Crystal Tamers
by tremor3258
Summary: The second story arc gets into swing as things shake up... Hey! Look, the story's not dead!
1. The Balance Tilts

Crystal Tamers

  
  


Part One: The Balance tilts

  
  


by Tremor3258 

  
  


Time/Place/Setting Note: This is technically in the 02 Universe, but the story takes place about fifty years after the defeat of MaloMyotismon, and things can change in fifty years. The tag/crests are gone, the Digimentals (Digiegg is too confusing, as Digiegg's are also where baby Digimon come from) are in hiding, and DNA Digivolution isn't activated. 

  
  


Disclaimer I don't own Digimon. Whoever ends up owning the rights in the next few months, please don't sue. 

The initial quote (up to 'all the good TV shows') is a paraphrase of one in Origin's Wing Commander Strategy Guide. Don't tell me if it doesn't sound plausible. 

  
  


********************

  
  


The continuing rise of telecommunication industries led to more and more cultural barriers being broken as instantaneous understanding became more and more critical in the marketplace, leading to the rise of English to predominate. Why? All the good TV shows were in English. Though Digital Gates remained unstable, the instantaneous transportation possibilities led to an economic boom. Old countries and geographic regions became less and less important in the year's following the Rebalancing The power prevalent in even a Rookie Digimon, along with most Digimon's notion of defensive fighting only, made wars nearly impossible. The Digital World's Rebirth led to our Golden Age. - Takeru Takaishi. History of the Digi-Destined Printed fifteen years after Oikawa's sacrifice.

  
  


Jessica Silphus idly kicked a can out of her way, watching it skitter along the slightly grungy sidewalk before deflecting off the concrete corner of the apartment building in front of her, before it came to rest in a small area, no top of other detritus, where the wind piled up the dust and grime of modern city life. 

  
  


The twelve-year old swept a few locks of brown-blond hair out of her face, and looked around at the buildings. They were intact, of course, as everyone tried to keep their various section looking the best so that more people, and thus more Digimon would move in. Of course, walking from section to section was a bit difficult, but Jessica was almost certain that the fifteen year olds would be near the highway this time of day, probably with a tollbooth set up. 

  
  


Many groups were calling themselves the Digidestined now days, because they had partners. As far as Jessica understood recent history, they did so little of what the originals had done. The Digidestined had preserved the balance between worlds, preventing the multiverse from collapsing in upon itself. They had fought bravely, despite being slightly younger than Jessica herself, and several had dedicated their entire lives to peace. They had been drafted, but had risen to the occasion despite terrible odds. 

  
  


Now, there were these pretenders to the old mantle. Those with more powerful Digimon claiming taxes of some sort from others to help keep them strong. Wild ones coming across from the Digital World were rare, but they had to be dealt with carefully, and didn't excuse the attitudes. Jessica felt in her heart that even Devimon, the first truly evil creature the Digidestined faced, would be enough to break them. She thought herself brave, most of the time, but against something that placed life and light itself as its enemy, she knew in her core that she would run as far and as fast as she could.

  
  


She felt a stirring in her backpack and forced to make her mood better. Her Digimon partner was very good at picking up moods and emotions, and felt uncomfortable during her bouts of self-doubt. Jessica concentrated on slowing down a little to make the ride easier. If she was to be caught, she would be, and the friend she was meeting to go to school with probably wasn't out yet. Well, Jessica smiled as her thoughts went to the small life in her backpack, the other friend she was meeting.

  
  


Her partner and soulmate hadn't appeared for a few days after she was born, due to the fact that she had been a trifle earlier than expected and her parents had been enjoying their last few possible days of freedom in the middle of the wilderness on a camping trip. Luckily, there were no complications, but the mountain wilds of Hokkaido aren't known for their massive amounts of electronic's gear. It was a few days before they could move her, and as soon as they got within range of a net-connected computer, a Digiegg had popped up and rested near her, blue and red. It had soon hatched into her closest friend and constant companion, at the time a small blue head with red spikes as a sort of crown above its eyes. People had been worried, because usually a fresh Digimon would emerge, but Sabotmon had used all her energy to make her way through the Net to find her. It was a real validation when she thought about it.

  
  


Now, Sabotmon had become Slithermon, an in-training reptillian Digimon. Obviously not of this earth with blue coloration and white stripes down her side, but she otherwise resembled a baby crocodile. Like most in-training levels, Slithermon spent most of her time either sleeping, or trying to snatch food under Jessica's ever-watchful eyes. The high-pitched voice squeaked reproachfully from her backpack, "You know, I do need energy if I'm ever going to digivolve."

  
  


"If you had your way, you'd chow your way up to Mega in your current body. I like you when you're still capable of movement. Besides, when it happens, it happens. There hasn't been a real threat, and you staying in a convenient travel sized package is a plus." Slithermon sleepily chirped her agreement. 

  
  


Jessica reflected that Slithermon was right on the energy issue. For whatever reason, most who digivolved didn't reach the really powerful forms, like Agumon digivolving to, say, Numemon instead of Greymon. Jessica's fondness for history, and the less chaotic times of the twentieth, mega Digimon attacking Odaiba or not, made her wonder what was happening with that. The partner bond was supposed to grant MORE energy to a Digimon. Instead, many seemed ... diminished.

  
  


That series of thoughts led to Jessica examining her Digivice. A small, white rounded rectangle, with a screen about the size of that on a digital wristwatch. All Digivices were brought along with the Digimon in question, but most now were the original Digivice design than the D-3s. No one knew what that meant, as it seemed to be a part of the Digital world. Jessica's favorite theory was that the Digital Gates were becoming more and more stable, so D-3s were no longer necessary. Any Digivice could grant passage, but only D-3s could open them. If it wasn't needed, then the Digital World could be more picky with whom it thought would get D-3s. 

  
  


"You're thinking bad thoughts about yourself again, Jessica," said Slithermon sleepily, "I know it puts your guilt spiral down a little further down every time I say something, but if I don't say something you get locked onto one thing and you just keep magnifying it. I mean, I know this neighborhood makes you depressed because of some of the inhabitants; they make me depressed, but you're not willing to simply accept it. That's good."

  
  


Jessica sighed again, and pushed her hair out of her face, she was half Japanese, half Korean, but no one knew where the blond had come from. It was slowly darkening to the right color though. Once Jessica could see again, she said, "I know, Slithermon. But there's a lot I can't do yet, and it seems I just get locked in the same old cycle. Sometimes it seems the only way to get through is to butt heads."

  
  


"Funny you should mention that, as that what you'll get unless you pay the toll," said a female voice, echoing around her. Jessica grimaced, partly out of fear, but also partly out of annoyance. She had run into this group of morons before, and knew the best way to deal with them was to move quickly. A Digital Barrier had been set up around her to hide the group of punks, but there were ways around that. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing, which wasn't easy, because if they were here, pickings had been slim on the highway and they probably weren't in a good mood.

  
  


A charge like electricity made her hair stand on end for a moment and Jessica opened her eyes in triumph. The group of older kids had taken to 'claiming' this territory for themselves, and possession of a Phantommon gave them sufficient muscle to back it up, shaking down residents for protection. Most of the rest of the gang were Geckomon, with a Greymon for heavier backup, but Phantomon's little illusionary tricks were their main asset. 

  
  


The girl who was Phantomon's partner liked to think too big, and Phantomon usually spread his illusion over too large an area, plus cloaking his partner in total impenetrable shadow. Geckomon didn't really need the protection, since they were decent at stealth anyway. Thus, if one knew the barrier was there, it was relatively easy to get through. 

  
  


And now's the time to get, thought Jessica to herself. She broke into a light jog, glad she walked to school rather than taking a bus. Several of the partners, simply hanging back, ordered their Geckomon forward, despite the fact the humans had equal or greater strength. That said, the Geckomon also managed to crash themselves into a pile, none of them getting Jessica.

  
  


"Morons," stated the girl, "Since we're not trying to turn her into a cinder, Phantomon, as always, you have to pick up the pieces." The ghostly Digimon nodded its agreement.

  
  


"Shadow Scythe!" Phantomon launched his special attack off, a beam of dark energy carving a path through the walkway Jessica had been running on. Shrieking involuntarily, Jessica covered her face with her arms as shrapnel pelted her front. 

  
  


Growling angrily, Slithermon worked his way clear of the unfastened backpack strap. She knew that she had no chance even against a Geckomon, but darned if she was going to simply sit back and watch her partner be assaulted. The Geckomon paused as a loud growl came out of the tiny creature.

  
  


"Mental note: find more capable Digidestined for gang," muttered the leader. She nodded and Phantomon made a mystical gesture. The air rippled as Greymon appeared. Not nearly as strong as the Ultimate ghost, but far more imposing looking, the ancient Digimon loomed over the scenery. 

  
  


"Tamer," corrected Jessica reflexively. They weren't chosen to save the world, but they were supposed to take care of their partners, which was a different category really. She knew they were in trouble when the gang had even shown up, ready to shake her down for a protection fee, but the fact that their leader had brought along Greymon meant she wasn't in a good mood. 

  
  


The shadowy figure stepped forward, and looked at Jessica appreciatively, "You stand up for what you believe in. I can admire that. Unfortunately, our world doesn't quite operate the way you want it too, and our service-based economy means you now need to pay up for our service in protecting from Wild Ones." 

  
  


"I"ll show you service! Digi-port, open!" another female voice rang out to the side. The short for her age twelve year old, Angie Misamaru, held her school-issued laptop before her. The various Digimon writhed as the portal called for them. Jessica quickly scooped up Slithermon and held her close as the gang leader was forced to divert Phantomon to prevent the Geckomon from being sucked up. They would return, but it would take several days and probably exhaust them. Jessica took the opportunity to run for it.

  
  


She slowed down after a block or so, and sure enough, footsteps rang out as Angie caught up to her friend. "Jessica, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize they had changed their patrol pattern until I walked outside and didn't see Greymon anywhere near the road." Her partner, a Biyomon, nodded her agreement as well. Angie was one of the lucky ones who possessed the two friends' private cause's main source of funds: a D-3. There were always situations where people needed quick access to the Digital World, and the two spent a lot of money campaigning for more organized patrol routes with Digimon, preventing the gang-structure in use today. The irony, of course, was that only champion level Digimon and their partners were allowed to visit the Digital World without a chaperone, so the two were operating on a 'look but don't touch' level. 

  
  


Jessica shook her head, "It's all right. I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings anyway. I really hate those guys." Jessica's expression darkened for a moment. Slithermon twitched once as a reminder, and Jessica changed the subject, "What did you want to show me so early anyway?" 

Angie seemed lost for a moment before remembering herself, "Oh, you'll like these. Since you're so much on Digital history." Angie pulled a binder out of her backpack, and Jessica whistled at the contents when it was open: a prize collection of Digimon cards. The game had been popular a few years back as a 'teaching aid' to tell children how to battle their Digimon more effectively. Unfortunately, arguments over the card Digimon tended to end with real Digimon battling, and so the card game had been raised in price and not distributed as much (banning it in schools would have simply made it more popular). 

  
  


Still, the researchers had done their work, and almost all the Digimon had been set to the average power level of their type. You occasionally met god-awfully strong Greymon who could take on ultimates, but these were set to be about typical for a match. And, Jessica noted, they had done a good job catching the Digidestined in an anime style as well for the cards. "These are really nifty. You've got most of the good ones. I mean, my collection isn't nearly as good.." Jessica collected them partly because of her love of the heroic era they represented, and partly for the challenge of collecting rather huge sets.

Angie smiled, "Neither is mine. This is actually my father's set. I found it in the attic and he said we could have it."

  
  


Jessica reached out a hand to touch the binder, and be sure of its reality, and then shook herself, "These are too nice to play with. I mean, I'm careful with my cards, but they've got the occasional chipped edge. These could have just come out of the pack." Jessica looked at the time and bit off a curse, "We're starting to run late. Let's hurry up and get to school." The two friends closed the binder, they would examine it later after school.

  
  


The shadows fell away from the figure who had been watching. The two hadn't thought of the possibility of another barrier being established, and the girl stepped out. Even in the more progressive day and age, the Japanese would call her gaijin, outsider. She had shoulder-length red hair and green eyes, wearing the uniform of the same middle-high school campus that the two went to, and she looked old for a thirteen year old, about fifteen, another reason to hide herself. 

Margaret Downing shook her head, "Ah, youth," she said sarcastically. The girl kicked a pebble that had gotten in her way. The attack on Jessica had been petty, Margaret knew this. It had really been a warning for her not to get complacent, as well as a reminder that the world had changed from Jessica's land of history. Margaret had put the group together as an example. Baby steps were what was needed, not Jessica and her little cabal's attempts to drop the supports out on the world. Compared to most of the other groups, little fighting was done in the few blocks under protection. Jessica's own neighborhood wasn't as well kept-up. A lot of it was done through fear, yes, but it kept aggressive people away, meaning safety for all. 

  
  


The girl felt a tingle at the back of her mind. Phantomon was reporting over their bond, close as the two were at Ultimate, that the last of the Gate had dissipated. She headed back to where the Geckomon were lying around. Having the data pulled by the Gate had greatly weakened them, as well as drained their trump card. Greymon wasn't stable as a champion yet, instead being an Agumon typically. Still, very few of their classmates had yet gotten their Digimon even beyond the rookie level, and many of the Geckomon's partners were salarypeople. Most of the partners nodded that their Geckomon were intact, and Margaret breathed a sigh of relief.

  
  


"You can step out now, my friend. No one saw you." The boy who was Agumon's partner walked out of the shadows where he had been hiding. Circumstances meant there was a great blessing in keeping his association with the group at a low level. 

  
  


"Good. Let's get going then, we have a lot to do at school today." The two walked off along the same route the other two had taken. The boy shook her head, "Reality and what we wish it to be. You know, if those two ever get their Digimon to digivolve, we should bring at least offer them to join the group." 

  
  


The boy looked like he could have come originally from any dozen spots on the globe, and wore goggles with the group as a joke, as "any group of Digidestined need a goggle-boy." His name was Allen Daijoji, and incidentally, he was a member of Jessica and Angie's little anti-tong club, the Anti-Protection Association. 

  
  


Margaret was as well, and they were aware of the hypocrisy involved, but both had seen regions, not just slightly pitted by battle, but areas destroyed by gang wars. Margaret's methods were harsh, but they kept people safe. Meanwhile, they attempted for the better tomorrow. 

  
  


"Would they take it?" Margaret asked. Jessica and Angie were reasonably strong people, Jessica prone to bouts of depression, partly because of Slithermon's continuing failure to digivolve, but they were starry-eyed idealists. Still, kids had changed the world before, Margaret reflected. 

  
  


"No, probably not. But I think we might want to plant the seed. Also, we're getting close to school, do you want people to connect you with 'Shadow Girl'?" Margaret shook her head to her boyfriend and nodded at Phantomon. The Digimon quickly glimmered, reducing to Piddomon, a relatively small, weaker angel Digimon, with two wings and wearing red, but otherwise resembling Angemon. The angel Digimon staggered, and held onto the redhead's shoulder for support. Margaret had an old-style Digivice, but even with her focus and knowledge of what the Digivice could do, Phantomon was a little draining to reach.

  
  


Margaret felt a slight twinge from her partner as they walked. He had originally gone up the angel track, but when a wild Triceramon had popped through from the Digital World and charged through the tongs in the area, she had found within the strength to digivolve Piddomon again. Unfortunately, that strength had come from fear and pain, and so the Digimon had dark digivolved, eager to use his powers to destroy, and Piddomon always felt guilty. I really hope the ends will justify the means I put myself and others through. Poor Piddomon's put up with so much for my sake, thought Margaret. "Come on, angel of mine," speaking to the boy and the Digimon, "let's go hurry up. I have first period with Jessica." 

  
  


"Man, I wish they'd stop hanging out with the enemy," one of the few children in the Geckomon group growled out. He was actually fifteen, so his Digimon had managed to keep a stable Champion form. Putting up with someone who actually held adults in fear, but put up with such weaklings a lot of the time was irritating. But not as irritating as having a wimpy Geckomon, when someone two years younger could actually get her partner up to Ultimate temporarily. 

  
  


"You want strength, but lack the will to grab it?" said a sweet, musical voice from out of the air. The boy looked around, but no one else seemed to hear it. Maybe it's my subconcious, figured the high schooler. The voice continued, "There is a simple way. Grabbing enough data, either through time, or deleting enemies in battle, can lead to greater strength. However, an ANGRY, determined young man could grab such power as well, though this may help. Head to the ADA club meeting after school, and you may find something interesting." The boy shook his head once, but the voice did not reappear.

  
  


The school day went rather normally. Jessica and Angie met for lunch, discussing things like homework assignments, club activities, and relationships. "Man, Margaret has it so lucky," moaned Angie, "Allen is cute, smart, intelligent, hard-working, and dedicated to peace."

  
  


Biyomon added, "His Agumon is hot too." 

  
  


Jessica shrugged, "True, but he is taken. I'd like to set my sights a little lower. You know, captain of the basketball team or so in levels of cuteness, but something with a brain." Slithermon, snatching rice whenever Jessica was distracted, chuckled through a mouthful. Angie didn't. Jessica groaned, "I have got to stop thinking out loud. He's right behind me, isn't he?" The annoyed school sportstar grabbed her shoulder to turn her around, but Slithermon, figuring a threat was coming, sprayed him with a Bubble Blast, which, though not much against Digimon, caught the athlete off-guard and knocked him to his rear as the bubbles popped against his face.

  
  


"John, let me V-headbutt them, please?" begged the little Veemon next to them. John shook his head. 

  
  


"Sorry, I may not be able to recite the 'daring exploits of the Digidestined' by memory, but then, I'm writing them in the present! Besides, you called me cute, so I'll let this one go," John strutted, but with one final shot across her bow, "I save my energy for battles against opponents strong enough to give me a challenge." John laughed as Jessica slumped down slightly. The rest of the meal was in an uneasy silence.

  
  


John headed off to his computer lab in triumph, but was surprised when words started scrolling across the screen. "Big triumph, yes John? You picked on a girl smaller than yourself who's a border-line depressive with an in-training Digmion. Anyone with an ounce of ego could have done with what you did, but you have pounds and pounds of it where you should have brains."

  
  


John typed back cautiously, "What are you talking about? Veemon is plenty tough!"

  
  


"Yes, Veemon is. The area around the school is kept clear by several various tongs, all with Digimon capable of reaching Champion, several have Ultimates. Veemon might be good against rookies, but he doesn't have a chance against anything stronger. Show your strength by confronting those who anger you, and you may be rewarded."

  
  


"What?"

  
  


The computer almost seemed to sigh, "Just be at the meeting after school, will you." 

  
  


Jessica still seemed depressed at the end of the day. Hair was falling across her face, so that her vision was half obscured, and she hadn't bothered to touch it. She had seemed rather listless all day, and replied to all inquiries with monosyllabic responses, unless they were about her well being, but then she simply ignored them.. Slithermon was crouched on her head, chirping on about various activities in school, but Jessica remained unresponsive. They quickly reached the classroom assigned to their group, and several of the eight people waved, though only Angie waved back.

  
  


Angie looked at Jessica in worry as she slumped into a chair, "I know I'm the president, but considering we have a bake sale coming up, I thought I'd let Jessica take the lead from the start?" Jessica sat up in surprise.

  
  


"You want me to run the meeting?" Jessica asked. Slithermon put a pressure on one hand, sending her support. Jessica shook herself, brushing her hair away (making a note about a haircut). Jessica thought, snap out of it for a second at least, girl! This isn't saving the world, this is making sure that everyone doesn't bring cookies. You should be able to handle that. 

  
  


"All right. I call this meeting to order," Jessica's voice cracked once, but she cleared it and went on, getting stronger as she went, "The agenda for the meeting is to see about getting the bake sale organized for more money for pamphlets. Also, Angie got these nifty Digimon," Before she could continue, mock clapping cut her off. Jessica shot an angry glare before she caught herself.

  
  


John stood in the doorway, along with an older child with a Geckomon. Jessica hissed slightly as she saw it was from this morning. The teenager waved casually, "Hi Margaret! Hi Allen! Look a lot different when you're not obscured in shadow!" The two turned, and Jessica keened slightly as she looked at Margaret's profile with that relationship in mind. 

  
  


Angie growled, "What do you want?" The two shrugged.

  
  


"Just thought we'd go see and what all the fuss is about. Nice to see that you people are actually working with the gangs. It makes you seem more human." Biyomon hopped on the table, angry, but Angie held her back, for now. Attacking like this wasn't the sort of path they were promoting. 

Piddomon went over and grabbed Jessica as she just slumped from where she had stood. Slithermon looked at her with fear in her eyes. Piddomon whispered, voice deep and profound, "I'm sorry for the deception. Margaret hasn't been herself lately, trust me on this. She didn't mean to hurt you." 

  
  


Margaret, meanwhile, was staring at the two angrily, and it seemed dark light started to surround her. Piddomon quickly set her down and looked worried, shaking her head at Margaret. "Get out!" she roared, and her D-3 shrieked in response. Black flames seemed to swirl around Piddomon for a moment, before he transformed to Phantomon. Without sparing a glance at Jessica, the now viral Digimon leapt forward, ready to take out the two in front. 

  
  


Angie's laptop, open, beeped in response to the screams of the four who were about to be cut in half. Veemon glowed with energy, suddenly turning into ExVeemon, who grabbed the scythe in between two powerful hands. Since Phantomon hadn't charged it with dark energy, it was relatively easy. John cheered in response. Meanwhile, Gecko-boy looked at his D-3 with delight as he saw power flowing through it.

  
  


"Margaret, outside!" ordered Allen, staying relatively calm. He didn't want to be the one who saw the school brought down around his ears. Margaret seemed to jerk once, her body partially obscured by the usual shadows that continued to swell around her, and then nodded. Angie, however, was glaring daggers that equalled Margaret's.

  
  


How dare they attack our meeting! Especially with Jessica in such a state. I'm going to kick their butts in now! They won't know what hit them! continuing her internal rant, Angie stomped after the group as they went outside. Most everyone had cleared out, except for Allen and Jessica, who had remained still.

  
  


"Listen," Allen began hesitantly, "We really didn't mean to hurt you." Jessica didn't verbally respond, though her shoulders twitched. Allen sighed, got down into a chair near her, and grabbed her hands. Jessica looked at Allen through slightly tear-stained eyes. Allen said urgently, "Listen. Margaret is a good person. She believes and hopes that what you say comes true, but for now, she's trying to protect things a little more actively."

  
  


Seeing she wasn't responding, Allen grabbed the binder sitting nearby and opened it for her, opening to a section with cards displaying the Digidestined. Allen tapped the portraits, "That's what they did a lot. When they were kids, they fought, but when older, they helped build the world to be a better place. That's what she's doing," Allen stood up and turned away, "We were only attacking this morning to show how far things had to go."

  
  


Slithermon asked, "Then what about all that dark energy?" Agumon made a mock swipe at the in-training. 

  
  


Allen actually replied, "It's because it's not a natural digivolution. She let her anger get the best of her to fight off the enemies, so that's how she deals with them now. It's not exactly right, but it works." Allen shook his head, "Sometimes I feel blocked by something, so does Agumon, but Margaret found a way around it, so that's a good thing, right?"

  
  


"So it's wrong," said Jessica. Allen turned around, as Jessica copied his example and tapped the cards, "They didn't let the ends justify the means, and they ended up heroes. The villains took dangerous steps, wiped out hundreds of Digimon and threatened both worlds, as an easy route to power. See what being a student of history nets you?" Jessica gave a weak smile and stood up. 

  
  


At the same time, the computers holographic monitors in the area fuzzed with static for a moment. Allen cursed, "There are more people digivolving out there. I have to go help, or else they may bring down the entire school!" Allen yelled, and it seemed he was right, as a booming noise went off followed by dust falling from the ceiling tiles.

  
  


Jessica stood in the room for a few minutes, before picking up the binder and her backpack. "Come on Slithermon. We need to see if anyone needs help getting out of the area." Jessica shook her head, "I know I'm weak, but Allen was right. This isn't the time to add to my list of failures by standing by and doing nothing." 

  
  


Slithermon jumped off the table and followed. She shook her head, "Listen, I know you believe me when I say this, at least until someone else jumps on you. You aren't a hot-shot digivolver, or possessing a Digimon that could shake worlds, but you do as much anyway. You're kind, and care more about Digimon than their own partners do most of the time. Technically, you've even gotten your enemies to work for you, part-time. You stood up to those bullies this morning."

  
  


Jessica picked up Slithermon and cuddled the lizard for a moment as they looked through doors to see if anyone was in the classrooms. "You're right. Luckily, I haven't been through as much as a lot of people, pain wise. But it takes dedication and strength to make you digivolve. I know you're happy at your level, and I love you from the bottom of my heart, but I think about you and figure I've failed you. You should be stronger, and it's my fault."

  
  


Slithermon shook her head, "I'm a rare Digimon, Jessica. There have been very few of me, and most of the Digieggs of my type fail to carry to term. Despite the risks, I fought through the Net because I could feel how you were. Your strength lies not in the urge to destroy, but to protect, and you're smart enough to realize that fighting isn't the only way to be strong." Slithermon sighed, "But you're also a product of your times, where strength is related to your partner. I think that's why you're always so sad, you can feel the disparity between the two."

  
  


Jessica wiped away a tear, "Slithermon, that was very profound."

  
  


"Well, I have hung around you for twelve years. You pick something up," replied the lizard. Jessica chuckled, but quickly sobered.

  
  


"I know. That's part of the pain, though. I'm as much a hypocrite as Margaret, really. I shouldn't worry about how strong you are, but be happy where you want to be. Instead, I protest against the very philosophy I'm carrying out." Jessica sighed, "Even when you know it's there, cultural baggage is hard to remove, isn't it?"

  
  


"I could help you", whispered a voice. Jessica froze in response. "I could give you the strength to make others respect you. Then they will follow your lead and the world will be healed." 

  
  


"Did you hear that?" whispered Jessica.

  
  


Slithermon's expression was strained, "Barely. If I wasn't linked to you, I doubt I would." 

  
  


The voice sounded annoyed, So, you possess some strength to be close to your Digimon. You haven't walled yourself off as planned. No matter, you seek to change the world, and you can lead by example. Choose now!

  
  


Meanwhile, outside, things were getting interesting. ShogunGeckomon had joined the battle, and his Musical Fist had leveled a portion of the playground. Phantomon was stronger than the fat frog, but ExVeemon made things interesting, pounding the ghost back and back, even before special attacks were brought into play.

  
  


Allen had quickly joined the battle and summoned Greymon. A quick Nova Blast had dropped ShogunGeckomon down for a little while, but Allen had nearly jumped out of his skin when dark flames surrounded John and ExVeemon. The hands emerged, same as always, but the wings on the back had changed to resembled those of an insect. The body was black, with antenna and covered with a chitinous shell, as well as the legs. The tail was blue ExVeemon, and the old dragon wings had become smaller and ornamental.

  
  


"ExVeemon, dark digivolve to Dinobeemon!" The insect-type buzzed. A dark blaze of energy appeared in his hands, "Hell Masquerade!" Greymon was hit hard by the ultimate level attack, energy surrounding him before an orange glow reduced him back to rookie.

  
  


"Agumon, are you okay!" Allen yelled, picking up the orange vaccine-type.

  
  


"Don't take me out coach!" said Agumon in a delirious voice. 

  
  


Angie was seeing red. These two had come in, disturbed the meeting, hurt her friend mentally, and torn apart the playground. Biyomon couldn't help. If only she could digivolve.

  
  


"Then I have a proposition for you," said a voice out of the air. Angie accepted quickly. Jessica may be mad, but the voice consoled she would understand as dark fire surrounded her.

  
  


"Agumon, I know you want to help, but leave it to Phantomon, she's handled worse," Allen said, dragging the injured Digimon into the shade of the building. 

  
  


Biyomon felt the flames surround her, as well as something get twisted even as power filled her. But she couldn't resist, her partner ordained it, "Biyomon, dark digivolve to Dokugumon!" The spider type, multiple eyes and wild hair, stood in a slightly singed circle. 

  
  


"Where did that come from?" Allen asked in surprise.

  
  


"Would you like me to tell you?" asked the wind around him. Allen looked in surprise, as the voice continued, "This is a friend speaking. You wouldn't have to sit on the sidelines. You could move back in, help Margaret out and stop any more damage. Just say the words and the power is yours."

  
  


Meanwhile, back inside, the voice had slid right from sensuous to annoyed, "Who cares how I got the power! Hurry up and choose it already!" 

  
  


Jessica took a deep breath, and said, "I know there's a chance I could actually be dead in a little while from saying this, but no. I said the ends don't justify the means, and well, I meant it, no pun intended. I may be weak and easily hurt, but Slithermon's right. I did some good on my own strengths, and I'll continue to do more."

  
  


"Curses!" roared the voice, and Jessica was surprised to see a dark aura lift from around her, "You were supposed to be the easy one, the one we had spent so much time on. It doesn't matter, we have almost all the other crests but one! You will not live to oppose us!" The darkness finished evaporating from her body, and Jessica collapsed as she felt a terrible weight seem to lift from her.

  
  


Slithermon stretched herself out, "Jessica! I feel great! Whatever happened, I haven't felt this much energy in years, no matter how much I ate!" Jessica's hand went to her pocket as she felt a wave of energy. She removed her Digivice, only to see it begin to transform. The end result was unlike anything she had seen before. It had a watchband on it, and the old rounded rectangle was elongated at the bottom, looking like a cross between a D-3 and a standard model. A groove was placed in the top, relatively thin, but deep. Silver highlighted the screen's boundaries.

  
  


Slithermon continued to stretch, and then slowly began to glow. Happily, Slithermon shouted, "Slithermon, digivolve to Crystalmon!" The rookie level faintly resembled the old form. It was still reptilian, but wasn't much sleeker, with the weight distributed to a longer body and tail. She was covered in white scales, and was about twice as large, with two ridges of spines down her back, and two dragon-like wings expanding out. Crystalmon yawned and said happily, "You did it! I'm not sure how, but you pulled through and let me reach rookie level!"

  
  


The transformed Digivice began to react, coming up with a holographic picture of Crystalmon along were her name and detail. Jessica said, "This is a much improved display. Says you're a vaccine holy dragon type, with shard dagger and dragon fang as your two attacks."

  
  


The display cut out after a moment, the screen scrolled a message across, "Rookie level acquired. D-power Digivice now on-line, ready for digi-modify/card slash system." 

  
  


Outside, Allen faced continued temptation, and seemed to be wavering. The voice continued, "Margaret would respect you far more if you could reach ultimate, and be an equal." 

  
  


Allen blinked a few times glassily, and then said confidently, "That was your first mistake! Margaret and I have a relationship now, and it's based on give and take. We're not the same power, and we don't have the same skills, but we do love each other."

  
  


"Do you think THAT could love you as you are now?" the voice asked. The wind swirled, and Allen turned to spot the shadow covered Margaret. Allen shook his head sadly.

  
  


"That's not the real Margaret right now," said Allen, "However, I'm starting to think you may have something to do with it. Show yourself!" The wind swirled, and Allen thought he saw a dark mist seep from him for a second. Allen fell to his knees, suddenly feeling as weak as his Digimon.

  
  


"Foolish boy," said a women's voice behind him, "I've been trying to protect you and all the other ones all these years from yourselves. Now you'll have to face the consequences of your actions, as you're playing for the team with the fewest players." Allen felt his breath start to slacken. Something was wrong with Agumon. His shape wasn't quite right. Allen pulled his Digivice out on instinct. It might be able to do something.

  
  


Both glowed at the same time. Allen gawked as his Digivice morphed to a D-Power, and yelped in astonishment as Agumon changed. Data flowed around him, taking a new shape. The Digimon was a bit larger, and had weird ears. Allen noted it looked a little like Agumon had been crossed with the Veemon over there.

  
  


The Digivice in front of Allen came up with a display, but the red dinosaur Digimon was happy to introduce himself, quickly rolling over to squat near the boy, "Allen! I feel right! This is what I was meant to be! I'm Guilmon! I may be a virus type, but I'll be with you to the end. My attack is the pyro sphere!" The same words as across Jessica's quickly scrolled across the screen. Allen stared in confusion, despite a pounding headache.

  
  


The voice behind him continued, seeming to gain in definition, "That's right. Dealing with events that now seem out of place. Your lack of worry for your girlfriend now seem more and more shocking and horrible? Still, two failures of eleven seals is still a great success rate," the voice continued reflexively, "You just lie here and try to futilely gain your strength back. Your world, and the Digital World, belong to my master. Toodles!" the voice finished cheerily, and Allen heard something like bat wings. 

  
  


Guilmon shook his head, "Sorry, my vision was still fuzzy. All I saw was a shadow." Allen nodded, as his strength began to be recovered.

  
  


He quickly gestured at the D-Power, picking it up. "Okay, time to digivolve!" Anything failed to happen. "I guess this new upgrade has a few bugs in it. Where's the patch?" he demanded.

  
  


Guilmon scratched his head, "I didn't feel anything at all. Maybe these work differently for digivolving?" Guilmon shrugged, "Oh well, let's try it this way! Pyro sphere!" Guilmon breathed a small bolt of flame, knocking into Dinobeemon, and causing him to stumble right into the deadly blackness of a Shadow Scythe strike. The newly digivolved Ultimate collapsed. Phantomon finished off Shogungeckomon, causing the frog to dedigivolve as well before dedigivolving to an exhausted champion. The three partners, as well as Digimon blinked before disappearing into black flames.

  
  


Allen cheered at the victory, but Dokugumon was still relatively fresh, and Angie's anger-filled mind saw Allen as a target. Guilmon was quickly swept up in one hand, as Allen was swept in another. Guilmon's form had changed from Agumon, but he was still exhausted, and couldn't quickly summon another pyro sphere.

  
  


"Shard dagger!" said a feminine voice, and two tiny blades created out of blue energy exploded against Dokugumon's flank. The spider roared and stumbled back. The grip on the two in her hands relaxed, but then tightened. Allen was suprrised. Those energy blasts were far stronger than usual for a rookie. But then, so was the pyro sphere. Crystalmon grinned, "Oh yeah. Face it, Jessica. You Tamed yourself a terror."

  
  


"Hush," said Jessica. Allen was surprised this was the same girl. She seemed more at peace and confident, and was carrying a binder under one arm, and a slightly worn set of cards in the other. Jessica said urgently to Allen, "I think I've figured these things out! It said to slash a card, and I happened to have my binder with me." Jessica was rudely interrupted by the spider.

  
  


"You talk to much!" roared Dokugumon. A set of purple mist started to fill the air from her special attack. Crystalmon nodded quickly to Jessica.

  
  


"I'm glad I've played the card game so much," murmured Jessica, "Digi-modify! Omega Sword!" Jessica quickly swiped a card through the D-power on her wrist. The system hummed with power, and then, strapped to Crystalmon's back, a brilliantly gleaming sword appeared. With a hissing sound, all the poison was sucked into it and rendered harmless, before the sword disappeared. 

  
  


"Shard daggers!" yelled Crystalmon, striking the virus again. This time, caught with surprise by the failure of the special attack, Dokugumon dropped the two down. The two, bruised, quickly made there way over to stand by Jessica.

  
  


"Nice work, so you just swipe a card from the game and yell it out?" asked Allen. Jessica nodded. "Okay, I'm not great with the cards, but I do remember one that should help." Allen quickly pulled one with a crystal seed pictured on it.

  
  


"Digi-modify! Seed of health!" Allen ran the card through the reader and data flowed from the D-Power into Guilmon, who stood up notably straighter and recharged. Allen wiped sweat from his forehead.

  
  


"Pyro sphere!" roared the rather large rookie. The ball of flame merged with the blue energy of another set of shard daggers. The flaming blades slammed into Dokugumon, snapping the spider onto its back, where her legs twitched for a moment, before turning to Biyomon. Angie screamed for a moment, before flame walked up her and then she and her partner disappeared.

  
  


"Angie!" the two remaining humans in the area cried out. 

  
  


The female voice chuckled and said, "They belong to my master now. I cannot harm you from where I stand, but if you want them, you WILL have to come through me. My name is Lady Devimon. If you want your friends back, meet me in the Digital World." The voice broke into maniacal laughter and faded away, letting echoes bounce around the battered asphalt, parts buckled and others crushed by the forces involved.

  
  


At this point, the Tamers knees buckled and fell. It had been will keeping them up. "Allen, do we go after them!" Guilmon asked.

  
  


"We can't. That one digi-modify nearly took everything out of me," Allen gasped, "We need to get home for now." Guilmon nodded, lending his back for Allen's support. Crystalmon, about three feet long and a foot high, patted Jessica's hand, and provided a quick lift as she got up.

  
  


"Don't worry Lady Devimon," said Allen to the empty playground, "We are going to come after you, but we're not stupid enough to foolishly charge in. You can start counting your days." With that, the two left, promising to meet tomorrow, but getting out of the area before people came in to start asking questions.

  
  


Author's Note;

  
  


A bunch of stuff taken from megchan's digimon sekai sight www.megchan.com especially the Digimon Encyclopedia.

  
  


This is a rewritten idea of some things I had going around. Partially to stick some Tamer's stuff into the 02 universe. With the Crests gone, and no one having the skill to repair them, and with so few Digimon capable of using Digimentals, supplementary Digi-modify abilities seem to be a logical step.

  
  


Remember; it was stated that ideas have power and are given life in the digital world. So the representations of such may be able to do something as well. 

  
  


The Tamer's stuff primarily is the existence of Guilmon (as he's stronger than previous rookies), along with the use of digi-modify and the lack of a lot of main characters. Definitely a strong point of the later season by having only a few characters to focus on, so they're more interesting. 

  
  


Jessica used Tamer because it comes form the manga as the partner of a Digimon. It turns out she may very well have been Chosen, but I don't think the usage will change.

  
  


The characters will stand up for themselves better for now on, as they're out from under Lady Devimon's spell.

  
  


C-tamer stands for Crystal Tamer

  
  


Next time: The Tamers try and figure out more about the new D-Powers and what's been going on in their lives. 


	2. Things get Deeper

Crystal Tamers  
  


by Tremor3258  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. So sad.  
  


Part 2: Things get deeper.  
  


The moment when Agumon digivolved was among the greatest of my life. The rush of energy pouring through both me and him as he gained power and strength. It was then for the first time in the Digital World I felt confident that we would get home, and little would stand in our way. Mind you, the Digital World did manage to teach me caution again. Tai Kamiya, in his biography by Stephen Ambrose.  
  


**********************  
  


Jessica looked around, or tried to. She was standing in pitch-blackness, and she got the feeling that the walls were just out of reach of where she stood. It was also cold, and growing colder with every second. As Jessica stood shivering, she tried to go over what she remembered.  
  


The events of yesterday had left the two people remaining on the playground disoriented and exhausted. The SINGLE card Jessica had swiped had been intended to simulate mega-level power, and had utterly drained her. Crystalmon had literally dragged her the final few steps home. "This is a dream, or maybe a nightmare." Jessica looked around, "Different than the usual old failure nightmares."  
  


"Do you think you failed?" asked a girl's voice. It sounded deep enough to be older than Jessica's, but it was highly distorted, as if the breathing was constricted. "You fought, something you don't like to do, and the defeated were taken away."  
  


Jessica tried to rub feelings into her arms as she put together her thoughts, "No," she said at last, "I saved Allen from getting crushed, and we managed to keep the school intact, if not the playground despite Ultimates fighting in the area. We couldn't control what happened afterwards. Once I wake up, we'll start trying to make them recover from that bad choice." Jessica looked around, or tried to, "Where am I?" she asked, "I want to see?"  
  


The chill lessened slightly, and Jessica felt the pressure of hidden walls cease. The voice came through, still distorted but a bit warmer, "You are starting to grow past what you were. This is your own mind, Jessica. The truth is very powerful here, and considering how you were yesterday, it's impressive you could even want to forage into the unknown here." The voice sounded saddened, "Of course, the fact you managed to weaken the spell enough to let me talk to you was incredibly impressive. Only one other Crest-bearer has managed it. You know him already."  
  


Jessica nodded, assuming the voice could see, or at least sense what she had done. Jessica focused herself. If this was her mind, she should have some limited control. But she found herself hemmed in from most sides, a binding around her. Off to her left, she could feel thing getting colder. In front of her, the barrier seemed slightly weakened. Off to her right, she could sense a warm, hungry presence, "Crystalmon?" she asked.  
  


That brought a surge behind her, and a glimmer of light, which dimmed quickly. The voice said, exhausted, "Yes. You're very closely connected. You have a very strong empathic sense, which isn't surprising, related to what Crest you bear in your heart." Jessica turned, but she couldn't make anything out with the shadows behind her.   
  


"Can you do anything about the light in here?" she asked.  
  


The shadows may have shifted, "I apologize. But you are still partly under the spell cast. It was designed to make you put up barriers around yourself, and that's what these are to a large degree. You've started to push them back, but I am still weakened and disconnected from you, as well as bound."  
  


"How do I help? Who are you?" Jessica asked. She did feel stronger than when she walked to school the other day, and it wasn't as if the past was nipping at her quite so much.   
  


"I am that which is to your left," Jessica walked over, but she found the cold grew greater. Taking a deep breath, she reached over and hit the center of the cold, feeling a trapezoid-like object for a moment before dropping it from the pain. "The spell was powerful, and used your basic trait against you: Kindness. You felt for others, but couldn't block things out, so everything hit the center of you. You have to watch for it. I'll try and help, but it's difficult for me to talk, as you and I are not yet one."  
  


"You're Kindness?" asked Jessica, answering her own question. "Barriers, huh? Let's see what I can do." Jessica searched herself. She could feel Crystalmon's presence, and if a tag existed in her mind, then maybe so did what she always carried in her pocket. Grinning in triumph, she pulled out her Digivice, currently in its D-Power form.  
  


The voice changed, growing deeper to that of Lady Devimon. "Are you sure you want to see what's on the other side?" asked the voice, "These barriers are ones you built to protect yourself. Can you face what's on the other side?"  
  


Jessica took reliance from those beside her, and said, "Let's find out!" She held up the Digivice to the area where she had felt a weak spot in the barrier. The D-Power emit a brilliant flash of light, warding off the cold, and opening a tiny sliver. Jessica began to walk towards it...  
  


******************  
  


Flames of pure white danced around Allen. "Don't move little boy, or you'll get burned," chided Lady Devimon, "The slightest misstep will plunge you back into the abyss. You used to not have to be aware of them, but this is where friendship takes you."  
  


"Where?" asked Allen, "I can't see past the flames." Allen felt better. He knew something was here with him, as Guilmon seemed more THERE as a presence than Agumon had been. He had been talking with his spirit and it had been an interesting conversation. Though nearly blinded by the light, he could make out the circle of a warm blue light, bissected with wavy lines. It was energy that was a tool, instead of merely destructive.  
  


"Of course, there's nothing there," answered Lady Devimon smoothly, "You're too well bound be me. Give in and the flames will go away. The other route is long, treacherous, and there's no sure chance of victory."   
  


"That's true, but good things rarely come from the easy way, or do you think I'd forget the screams of those kids you sucked in yesterday?" Allen drew out his D-Power, light blue highlighting the screen and it began to glow.  
  


Lady Devimon's voice began to fade, for now, as she said, "Well, I was hoping you weren't far enough along to notice yet."   
  


A spot opened into the flames, but it was one into a blackness. Not an absence of light, but rather the opposite that consumed all light. Allen could just see a dark figure, eyes glowing a malevolent red, hunched over an orb of black crystal. Trying to ward off the feeling of power coming from it, Allen crossed his arms and a bolt of energy flared out.  
  


********************  
  


Guilmon was staying by the side of the bed, apparently all healed. Allen smiled at his partner for a moment, and then his eyes narrowed as he noticed the sun streaming through the window. Guilmon explained, "School was off for the day, as they're trying to explain what happened and inspect the building. I let you sleep in." Allen nodded his thanks. The bruised rib feeling was starting to fade, and he felt reasonably refreshed.  
  


"Thanks Guilmon," said the boy, rubbing sleep from his eyes, before reaching over to check his alarm clock, "What time is it, any-OWW!" More from surprise than actual injury, Allen tossed the clock away as it sparked as its fuses were blown out. Lying in the corner, the former clock, now fused plastic, smoked merrily. "How did that happen?" Guilmon shrugged in response to the question.   
  


Allen looked at the clock, and then at the room in shock. It was clean, and there was a closet with some clothes, but the room was painted a stark white, and only a bed, a lamp, a chair, and a desk stood for furniture. Allen shuddered, "Is this all there's been to me?" he asked. Guilmon only looked at him sadly. Allen seemed to be finally noticing his surroundings, but Guilmon doubted the new, more caring Allen would be all ups.  
  


Several blocks away, Jessica stirred as well. The sheer spiritual and mental exhaustion caused by swiping such a powerful card had left her physically wiped out. She brought her hand up and blinked in surprise at the small pink objects cupped in her hand. "Crystalmon, did I forget to close the window last night? Some cherry petals blew in here." Crystalmon looked at the slightly open window and nodded. They were on the tenth story, but you tended to get updrafts around a lot of tall buildings.   
  


The room was relatively light and painted a robin's egg blue, with a few pictures of singers and a group shot of the Digidestined on the walls. Jessica didn't pay it too much mind except to see if everything was there. Then she saw the time and paled. Crystalmon said quickly, "No school today! Your parents cleared it!" Jessica nodded and went in search of sustenance.  
  


She stumbled out of her room, still in her pajamas. "Good afternoon, sleepy head!" chirped Jessica's mother's partner, a Digitamamon. She was an only child, and her parents worked, but a three foot high egg had trouble navigating Tokyo's train system, especially with the trains the only real neutral zone that everyone left alone, since everyone needed the mass transit, as only the very rich could still afford cars in Japan.  
  


The Ultimate was a very good cook, despite the apparent lack of hands, and a wave of inky blackness left a small plate of soup and rice balls in her hands. Despite the fact Jessica was normally used to it, now the harmless use of the Nightmare Syndromer led to an involuntarily twitch, and she nearly dropped the plates, remembering the previous day.  
  


"Still worn out, huh?" said the Digimon, not unkindly, "You know, you really should just let your parents pay the protection fee for you. You're going to run yourself ragged, and get hurt, especially with-" the egg cut off abruptly, "Eat your breakfast. You gave your parents quite a shock when Crystalmon dragged you around, instead of you dragging her around, and they nearly attacked the poor thing before she could explain."   
  


Jessica sat down on the couch and flipped to a news channel while dropping tidbits down to Crystalmon. "Are you okay after what happened yesterday?" Crystalmon chewed as she thought about it.  
  


"Physically, I'm fine. The Digi-modify didn't damage me in any way. Mentally, we REALLY need to start thinking of a plan. Call the old Digidestined or something. They're getting on in years, but they'd know who to contact," suggested Crystalmon.   
  


Jessica nodded, and then set the platter down for a moment, "Take what you want for the time being. I need to go grab my cards," At Crystalmon's questioning look, Jessica explained, "The last card I did was too much. Allen dropped because of his injuries, but I couldn't withstand that card. I'm guessing I will eventually, but for now we need to decide which ones to use or not."   
  


Finishing up lunch, and thanking the egg, who laid down for a nap, the two went to work. "I'm guessing Digivolution is right out for now?" said Crystalmon, holding up the card. Jessica nodded, "Sorry, but I'm not sure what kind of energy drain that would be. How about we test something small like this seed of strength card?" Crystalmon nodded, and Jessica quickly slashed it. Crystalmon stretched once, and lifted the couch Jessica was on with her two front paws.  
  


"Let's try that one more time! Digi-modify!" The D-power failed to respond, scrolling an error message into the text, "Hmm, data transfer only 5 percent restored. Please wait. I guess there's a limit on how often we can use cards," Jessica said wiping sweat from her eyes. She felt far stronger than yesterday, but still a bit wiped out. She quickly grabbed a rice ball and devoured it.   
  


"Well, I'm glad we know that now, rather than with a Dokugumon breathing down our necks," said Crystalmon. Jessica nodded in agreement, and Crystalmon tried to suppress her surprise. Having her partner sense that Crystalmon was about to go into hysterics about the generally care-free attitude wouldn't be a good idea. It was a refreshing change, and Crystalmon intended to support it. The doorbell chimed, and Crystalmon rushed off to get it, Jessica still busy examining cards.  
  


Allen looked rather downcast, but considering the way he had been squeezed yesterday, that was understandable. With his damaged ribs, he was also wheezing slightly. Still, he managed to hold up a newspaper, which may have been the source of Allen's displeasure.  
  


"I can't believe I hadn't noticed this before!" Allen yelled as a preamble as he walked in. Guilmon waved to Crystalmon before the dragon closed the door. Jessica picked up the paper that was thrown down on the table, upsetting her work with the cards. Jessica's annoyance was chased away when she read the headline.  
  


"Four more gone in series of disappearance cases! How long has this been going on?" Jessica asked. She stopped and groaned. "Right: my parents try and avoid upsetting me, so they're always busy with the front page when I come to breakfast, and the newspaper's already been recycled by the time I get out. Digitamamon! Get out here!" Jessica exclaimed as she continued reading the article.  
  


Allen sighed, and said in an ashamed tone, "I may have actually seen it before now, but I didn't actually notice," he winced, "Actually, it was weird, but there were some problems in my room, like my clock was about to blow up, that I hadn't seen before. Heck, for that matter, there aren't any posters or anything in my room. It's like I didn't care enough." Allen shuddered, "Why would someone do something like that to us?"  
  


"Oh, hi Allen! Club meeting?" said the egg Digimon innocently as he walked out of the room."

Jessica threw the paper at him, "You know, I don't appreciate being lied to, Digitamamon. I do know how fragile I am. There's been a bunch of disappearances in our area, and I do happen to live here. If I'd known what was going on, I could have at least been alert."   
  


Digitamamon tapped one scaled foot against another nervously, "It wasn't my idea, or your mother's. Your father was afraid you'd crack if you got paranoid as well as," the ultimate quailed for a moment, but continued, "As well as how withdrawn you get. He was afraid you'd get pushed over the edge and do something horrible."   
  


Jessica whispered, "I wouldn't. I might get pulled further and farther away from myself, but I doubt I would be stupid enough to kill myself. If nothing else, the idea of how sad everyone would be would make me too depressed to do anything." Crystalmon rubbed her head against Jessica's leg, thinking this was a good time for a head scratch, and Jessica obliged.  
  


Digitamamon's eyes narrowed, "Who are you and what have you done with Jessica?" Jessica laughed, and Digitamamon joined in after a moment. "That's very refreshing to hear, Jessica. You haven't laughed that easily since you were little. What happened?" Digitamamon cast sly glances at the boy in the living room for a moment.  
  


Both blushed straight to their ears. Jessica shook her head, "More like I had the veils ripped from my eyes yesterday. Thanks so much for lunch, though." Digitamamon bowed and grabbed the tray, sucking it into himself temporarily before spitting it into the sink. Allen watched with a trace of disgust on his features.  
  


"You get used to that," murmured Jessica. She turned and gestured at the scattered cards, "You know, if a lot of people were affected by the same sort of spell we were under, we should try and help them. It seems lots of people are being sucked in."   
  


Allen frowned for a second and asked, "Actually, now that I think of it, what did all four of those who were, well, almost infected with darkness, had D-3s. I should know this probably, but is there some sort of listing with this?"   
  


Jessica said, "Well, actually, there is a global Digimon registry. It's on people's birth certificates. But everyone about our age with a D-3, even if we talk just about this neighborhood could be up to thirty people! If we count everyone with a D-3, we're talking literally almost a thousand."   
  


Allen thought about it for a second, and then agreed, "True, calling everyone and asking 'have you been tempted by a dark voice with ultimate power?' wouldn't be that smart a thing to do. I don't suppose there's a way to track?"   
  


"Actually," Guilmon said, "I felt something out on the playground. My mystic senses are a lot stronger now than when I was Agumon. I can smell Digitamamon even through the door, and he's been awake and listening."   
  


Sheepishly, Digitamamon reentered the living room, though his voice was filled with respect, "I'm impressed. Not many Ultimates who stop by and visit actually realize I'm there when I'm trying to be quiet. Okay, anyway, I can't take it any more, and I don't know if this is going to send you back into your shell, Jessica, but what happened exactly? Wasn't that red dino an Agumon yesterday? I've never seen anything like it or Crystalmon before."   
  


Allen and Jessica went through a quick run through of recent events, including the dream last night. Digitamamon didn't seem particularly pleased with Allen being part of one of the protection rackets, but softened when he explained that he had joined for a girl. "Ah, young love in the spring! Makes me feel soft-boiled all over!" The Digimon soon got serious, "Actually, it's bizarre. I haven't been to the Digital World in years, and partners don't speak with wild Digimon a lot, but I've never heard of such a system using any device like cards to assist Digimon. For that matter, I've never seen an analyzer built right into a Digivice before. Maybe you are the Chosen, I've heard that prophecy speaks to heroes." Guilmon and Crystalmon puffed up in response.   
  


"Well, that's one thing I wanted to ask. Any sort of special signs on the day of my birth, good omens, or something?" Jessica asked.  
  


The egg Digimon bobbed up and down, his version of a shrug, before replying, "Well, there were more butterflies than usual for the mountains, I remember having trouble breathing it was so bad. It doesn't help that your Dad had a Woodmon at the time, they kept trying to nest."   
  


"That isn't a big lead to go on," said Allen, discouraged. "I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes open for now. That was one reason I wanted to come over, I really should borrow some cards."  
  


"Well, prior to you dumping that paper down, I was working on that," chided Jessica. Allen bowed to the floor in mock-apology, and Digitamamon went off to get something for them to eat.   
  


"After all," he whispered in the safety of his kitchen, "If there is something wrong back home, and they do have Crests, then they'll be dragged into it whether they want to be or not." Digitamamon thought for a moment, and then began searching the phone book for someone he knew could probably help. Luckily, Japan's Guardian happened to be in, and promised to stop by.   
  


It was a few hours later, and the two were now sitting outside on a bench near the apartment in the shade of a few old cherry trees, plotting the relative value of one card against the other. The two rookies were still trying to figure out the exact magnitude of their various powers, and so were involved in a practice battle. Guilmon was leading, eight falls to six.   
  


Coming up behind them was a middle-aged man. His hair was starting to grey at the tables, but he didn't like being reminded of it. Worry lines had begun to tease at the corner's of his eyes and forehead. He smiled as he spotted the two sitting in the shade, but grimaced as his vision was blocked by a set of pastel butterflies. He grimaced and asked to the air, "Don't you EVER get tired of interfering where more qualified and experienced people are available?" If anything, the butterflies flapped harder and did their best to cut off his vision. "Fine, but you brought this upon youself," the man warned the air. With a snap of his fingers, the butterflies dropped like stringless puppets, bright colors fading from their wings before they dissolved into dust. Smiling slightly, Gennai breathed a word left hanging with the remnants of once bright nectar drinkers. "Fool."   
  


Gennai cursed as he saw the two Digimon hanging near their partners become alert at his approach. He doubted they had seen anything, but it wouldn't do to tip his hand too early, and Gennai forces his grin a few notches wider, from a grin of cunning to one of welcome. Gennai noted the Digimon's slightly hostile stares become distant, as they started ticking off mental Rolodexes of people who they knew. Rookies: old enough to make teaching them difficult, but young enough to be fodder for much of the Digital World. "And humans talk about having an awkward age," chuckled Gennai.  
  


As he approached, he noticed the boy was starting to tense slightly, and that was probably a good sign. Before, he had been led around. The girl, however, took just a second to put his older face with the even older pictures. Gennai was a highly aware Guardian, in charge of the defense of the Digital World, yet he even couldn't recall exactly if the brunette had actually been at a midway point between standing up or not, or simply teleported to her rigid position, practically at attention.   
  


"As you've evidently guessed, I'm Gennai, Guardian of the Digital World, Spiritual Advisor to the Digidestined, and computer terrorist wanted in six countries for deleting classified information about the Digital World," Gennai bowed. The two Digimon stopped glaring and started kowtowing.  
  


Allen placed the reference, bowed as deep as he could, and held it far longer than he had for Jessica, before straightening and asking, "So, which Gennai are you, anyway?" Gennai glared at Allen, and Guilmon later swore he saw flames emitting from the Guardian's eyes. Allen sweat-dropped and apologized profusely.   
  


Gennai smiled, "Don't worry about it. Digitamamon called the Digital World's embassy in Tokyo. I knew your parents quite a while ago, and I owed Digitamamon a favor. Plus, there have been a series of odd transmissions from the Digital World recently that have me baffled, and I believe there may be a connection." Gennai looked at the two rookies and said, "Though I'm wondering where exactly those came from. Slithermons are extremely rare, and I've never heard of one evolving into a dragon-type before. For that matter, I've never seen the red one's type before. And what's with the warning label on your nose? Virus, aren't you?" Guilmon pawed at his snout for a second in confusion. Gennai seemed distant for a second before his eyes focused on Allen again, "For that matter, wasn't your partner an Agumon?"  
  


Jessica asked, as innocently as she could, "Are you suggesting there's something wrong with our Digimon? Crystalmon has never been any trouble. She's my reason to keep hoping, so that all Digimon can have a good relationship without being forced to battle needlessly." Little stars had appeared where Jessica's pupils had been. Gennai smirked.  
  


Allen was a bit more confrontational, "Sir, I understand you can track the going-ons of the Digital World, but I know Guilmon hasn't changed at all! Well, emotionally. I don't know why it happened, but if Guilmon's happy, I'm happy!"  
  


"And this is based merely on the intuition of an eleven-year-old, that your Digimon hasn't changed?" asked Gennai skeptically, "For that matter, most Digimon would say their happy if confronted by their partners, they want you to remain in a good mood."  
  


"It's not simply asking. I know it!" Guilmon and Allen both gave serious nods.   
  


Gennai asked, "Whatever. More importantly, how did your Digimon change classes suddenly? Is he infected by evil?"   
  


Allen shook his head, "Guilmon transformed after the D-Power did, and after the dark energy left me." Gennai stared a bit closer at that, and seemed unconvinced. Allen continued, "Guilmon did help drive back the Viruses who attacked us yesterday! That should mean something."   
  


Gennai said, "I'll continue observing on that issue. Digimon suddenly transforming is not something that happens, in my opinion. Can I see your Digivices, I was told by Digitamamon that they were ... odd." The two drew forth their D-powers, and let Gennai examine them. Gennai picked them up to look closer, but when he tried pushing the 'clock' button, a spark flew from the D-Power to his finger, causing him to drop them. "Now that was odd," commented Gennai after he stooped to retrieve them despite hurried apologies from the two. He exhibited his find. The D-Powers were once again normal looking Digivices. When the two took them in wonder to examine them, they shimmered for a moment and transformed back.   
  


Gennai frowned, "Some sort of protection algorithm. You don't know who gave them to you, or how they're designed? You just know a card slash powers up your Digimon?" The two nodded. Gennai said, "I'm not sure I trust this set-up. Your partners may very well have to be reformatted, and new Digivices issued.  
  


Jessica said, "You just can't do that!" How can I stop him, though? thought Jessica, He's a Guardian, and we're running into a lot of unknowns here. "Isn't there some sort of test you could give them or something?" Jessica asked weakly.   
  


Gennai concentrated for a moment, and then said casually, "Show me they're viable Digimon." Fog began to swirl into the area and Genani explained. "I've found a useful program that resembles transforming the Control Spires. It puts data together into a simple Construct, with not much of a mind, but great power. Useful for blocking people from getting into areas they shouldn't be. Prove your effectiveness and I'll even help train you for Lady Devimon."   
  


Jessica grumbled, "Why does it always come down to 'you must show me your power' around here? Am I living in some sort of twisted anime?" Allen chuckled. Yes, life did seem that way sometimes.   
  


Finally, the fog finished condensing, and a figure started to walk out as the fog was burned away. Though the sun had little to do with the sun's death, as a red-hot Meramon stepped clear of the fog. It stood, blinking glassily, as if unsure of the legality of standing. Gennai studied it and said, "Not my best work, but you'll have to do good to take it out. Or you could probably digivolve and stomp on it." The two assumed Gennai was teasing, or else he had already forgotten Digitamamon's briefing.  
  


The rest of the fog ran away, and then the two Tamers gasped as they felt a wave of longing run through them, like an itch they couldn't scratch. It faded after a moment as Crystalmon said in a hushed whisper, "Even if I wasn't here, I could tell this is a fake. It's like animating a zombie." The two shuddered at that. They weren't great Shintoists, but the defilement of the dead was a taboo that had been greatly impressed in them. Crystalmon flapped her wings, she wasn't a great flier, more of a glider, but she managed to jump onto Jessica's back and whispered, "I'm sorry about that. I don't know why I reacted like that, and it took a minute to get under control. I could barely stop myself from trying to rip that THING's throat out," she said in an ashamed tone. Jessica patted her head.   
  


Guilmon seemed to be having a little more trouble getting under control, as he was growling slightly at the Meramon. It continued to blink. Gennai rose a hand in the air, and dropped it down, "Begin! Meramon! Destroy these two Digimon!" Meramon roared, no words, and launched a bolt of flame at Crystalmon, the farther Digimon, not to mention that the dragon was still on Jessica's back. With instincts bred from years of being in crossfires and near Digimon battles, Jessica dove to the ground, the flame impacting the concrete behind her, leaving a scorch mark. Gennai winced, "Sorry. Note to self: better AI on next set of Gatekeepers." Jessica needed a moment to stand back up, and Allen quickly ran and began searching through the pile of cards, trying to find one they had decided was on the safe list. Meramon prepped another volcanic strike, but Crystalmon was having none of that.  
  


"Now I'm just ticked! No one tries to hurt Jessica and gets away with it! Dragon fang!" Energy surged along Crystalmon's frame as the tiny dragon began charging forward. The energy resolved into a curved arc of energy with Crystalmon inside it, before the dragon Digimon slammed into Meramon, knocking the Construct back a few feet.   
  


"Oh sure, SHE gets a special attack that isn't fire-based," grumbled Guilmon, who was wondering how he was supposed to attack the sorry flaming puppet copy of a Digimon in front of him, when he couldn't touch it!   
  


Allen quickly sorted cards, "I'm not sure which one to slash here. Do you think speed or an attack bonus?" Meramon had started to recover, and was shambling towards the two.   
  


Guilmon noted the fact the concrete had actually started to melt behind the Digimon, "Anything where I don't have to actually come into contact with it would be good." Guilmon suggested.  
  


"Okay, let's try this one!" Allen drew up a card with a small image of an iron bar on it, and quickly swiped it through the reader on the base of his D-Power. "Digi-modify! Heavy metal!" Guilmon glowed as the data was uploaded into its body, and the dinosaur's color scheme changed from red to a steel grey, and his voice became slightly metallic.  
  


"All right!" Guilmon cheered, headbutting into Meramon. The heat would take a while to get through Guilmon's shielding, and as long as the armor lasted, Guilmon was immune to the incidental heat of Meramon. Guilmon laid in with a series of slashes, dodging the slow counter-strikes. Jessica and Crystalmon regrouped to stand near Allen and watch the show. Meramon finally got the notion that his strategy wasn't working, especially as his flames were starting to flicker. Meramon concentrated, and the flames dimmed everywhere but the hand, which glowed with renewed vigor.  
  


"Guilmon's too slow to dodge it with armor on! Where is it," Jessica started to search, finally finding something to her liking. She held up the card, which looked like a weird device with a green dot in the middle, "Crystalmon, get in there and fight! Digi-modify! Accelerator!" Crystalmon dashed forward, twice as fast as before.  
  


"Dragon fang!" improved speed went into a more damaging attack. Meramon was knocked backwards onto his back by the sheer kinetic force behind the strike. Meramon, however, chose that moment to release the attack, which flew straight up into the air. Guilmon and Crystalmon started to move away as Meramon's assault struck himself.  
  


Meramon was obscured by a rolling ball of flames as a noise like a thundercrack became known. Crystalmon jumped at the last minute, aiming for Jessica. She managed to ride the shockwave, partially, but ended up in a slightly controlled stall that sent her and her partner crashing to the ground. Guilmon merely closed his eyes and braced himself at the last minute as the flames surrounded him. When they cleared, he was slightly singed, and the armor program had shut down, but essentially intact.  
  


Meramon however, gave a few gasps for air. The rush of oxygen sucked up by the fireball had smothered much of his flames, and the Digimon made no attempt to even stand. Allen nodded, and Guilmon walked over, claws on the feet barely tapping against the concrete. Meramon made a wild, desperate attempt to punch Guilmon, but the dinosaur dodged it easily, and walked to the fallen Digimon's head. Eyes closed, Guilmon reached down and quickly slashed with his claws. There was practically no heat left. Meramon gave one last choke before he dissolved into a cloud of data.   
  


Jessica, Allen, and the Digimon bowed their heads for a moment, and so missed Gennai gesturing. The cloud of data surrounded him with a nimbus for a moment, before sinking into his robes.  
  


"We wouldn't have to do that again if we trained, would we?" asked Jessica in a slightly choked voice. Brought into life only to fight, and then was put to sleep like a sick animal. She shuddered at the idea of someone doing that to Crystalmon.   
  


"No, you won't have to worry about it," Gennai said angrily. He started to walk away, "I'll let your two live. Who knows, they may turn out to be viable strains, but I won't train you."  
  


Allen said in a confused tone, "Um, we did win right? I mean, we did hold up pretty well up against it."  
  


"You used little tools and extra programs. What sort of standard is that to get about your Digimon?" Gennai demanded. He calmed down after a minute, "Now that I'm aware of the situation, I'll detail some friends in the Digital World to do their best to prevent more disappearances, but I suggest you two don't travel to the Digital World." The two started to protest. They had friends there! Gennai waved at them and said, "A hand full of tricks means nothing compared to the power of a Digidestined. I'll see about rescuing your friends myself, but I wouldn't suggest any foolishness. I doubt your Digimon could ever even digivolve, and the Digital World would eat you alive." Gennai walked off at that point, passing near a pay phone and shimmering into it.  
  


Jessica and Allen stared at shock at the Guardian's passage. "You know about those crazy claims of revisionist historians?" Jessica asked. Allen shook his head, but Jessica continued, "I'm starting to believe them."   
  


Allen nodded, "Let's get inside and talk to Digitamamon. We do need training, and if Gennai thinks I'm just going to wait for him to send in a few zombies to try and save my friends, he's gone senile. You with me?" Jessica smiled and shook the trainer's hand as their partners did the same.  
  


Gennai, meanwhile, traveled through the brilliant colors of netspace. After a moment, he came to one of the sink holes to the Digital World. Butterflies and half-formed shapes danced at the edge of the warp. "You've put your hope with those two? You are foolish," the Guardian said scornfully, "I checked, they have not a hint of crest energy. Most humans partnered have SOMETHING. They will fail, and that will be the end of things. I would say it was nice knowing you, but you have caused me no end of aggravation." Gennai continued on. He had places to go, people to see, worlds to protect as he saw fit. The butterflies danced on through netspace, unconcerned.  
  


To be continued:  
  
  
  


Author's Note: Why am I being mysterious about the butterflies? It's not like anyone who saw the epilogue doesn't know what's going on. Actually, it's because one of the points that will come out assumes most people don't want to know the little unpleasant details behind the Digital World's restoration.   
  


Cards they're going to be using: probably just low level speed, strength, and recharge cards.  
  


I think I got italics working.   
  


Oh: Next time: More details are uncovered as plans begin. We find that time hasn't been the best of things to the Digital World.


	3. Energy Infusion!

Crystal Tamers 

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Heck, this Disclaimer isn't even original. Please don't sue.

  
  


pt. 3 The Shadow-Bursting Infusion of Energy! 

  
  


(mini Author's Note. That actually sounds like the name of a card...)

  
  


"The Four Holy Beasts? Only Gennai seems to know them to any degree. Even Centarumon knew only of ancient myths about these creatures. I haven't seen any of them, but the younger Digidestined, back when that term was specific, met Azulongmon briefly, and said he was massive and wise. I DO know that it took only a pittance of power from one Holy Beast to grant us back our higher-level digivolutions. So, logically, we'd never have beaten MaloMyotismon without them." - Koushirou "Izzy" Izumi, in an interview, the transcript of which is the opening to The Book of the Beasts, the sacred book of the Cult of the 4 Great Ones.

  
  
  
  


************************

  
  


The Digital World is a place of astonishing variety. Every landscape imaginable, from those of the ocean to those of Impressionistic paintings, can be found, usually right next to each other. The typical first rule of Digital World travel was that nothing could be taken for granted in the Digital World. However, the past fifty years had been a time of change for the Digital World, first with the arrival of humans. Then butterflies had become nearly as common as fish, as part of the seal that held off the Dark Ocean, and the living manifestation of the Digital World's energy. 

  
  


The latest constant was a depressing one. Some areas of the Digital World were brilliant with light shining off white beaches, while others were areas of stygian darkness and swamps. At least, they had used to be. Now, things were dimmer, as if seen through a piece of slightly fogged glass, and the butterflies had started to die.

  
  


However, a far darker shadow flew over the Digital World. Lady Devimon had realized after a few hours that the two Chosen still free wouldn't be coming through immediately, and her lord had put her on a far more important project. That had been a few days ago. Lady Devimon, considered herself a simple warrior caught up in a grand crusade, and took a moment to consider the powers being fought over as she flew. 

  
  


There were twelve traits that held the primal energy of the Digital World, and its shadowy reflection, the Dark Ocean. These same powers had gone to the creation of the Digimentals, and the nine most associated with Good had been crafted into crests for the original Digidestined, Kindness having been lost when Ken entered the Digital World in an attempt to slow down the darkness, but had been infected with a Dark Spore. 

  
  


However, the original Digidestined, Chosen of the Crests who had maintained the integrity of the Digital World before restoring its balance, were getting old. They had sacrificed their crests to maintain the power of the Digital World against a slow seeping drain caused by several foolish, but powerful, Digimon, but the energy of the second group of Chosen was decreasing. Hence Lady Devimon's lord's project. The traits of the Digital World maintained the Wall of Fire against evil lords who wanted nothing but to destroy all the worlds. The wall was fading, and Apocalymon would return unless something was done, but the Guardian remained complacent, knowing there were years and years before the situation became critical.

  
  


Lady Devimon smiled. Lord Demon was smarter than other Mega viral Digimon. He had fought his way clear of the Dark Ocean, a holding bin for the detritus of the Digital World, and returned to discover the Digital World fading. He had taken immediate steps to save the Digital World, and had discovered a set of old tablets scattered around File Island., detailing ancient prophecies. The plan that had been built upon that foundation was complex, long-term, and required an enormous amount of toil. The reward would be a stable Digital World. A Digital World that was owned by Demon was merely an added bonus.

  
  


Unfortunately, the plan had evolved as far as it could without the Digidestined. The energy of those particular humans had to be obtained. Unfortunately, with the lack of manufactured, bonded crests, one couldn't wait for the Digital World to summon the new group. Demon, doing research of ancient texts, had found the apparent likely steps to become a Digidestined, and had taken long and involved steps to cast spells designed to prevent those traits from preventing themselves over all the likely candidates until Demon was ready for them.

  
  


Lady Devimon said to herself in an amused tone, "And for now, we have exactly two that we know for certain are Digidestined, and they remain outside our control!" Lady Devimon laughed to herself as she reached Infinity Mountain. A small bunker had been built on top, barely large enough to hold a Greymon. However, this was just cover for the real activities going on below. For Infinity Mountain was in the middle of File Island: literally the heart of the Digital World, and beneath it was the physical representation of the Digital World's most important protective program: the Wall of Fire, a massive column of eternal flame.

  
  


It used to be a barren cavern, but now Demon had built his forces a home underneath the mountain, with lodgings carved into the walls and floor of the massive chamber. Demon himself had built barracks for the various candidates Demon had found by forging stone within the Wall of Fire. The black, red streaked stone could withstand most Ultimate level attacks without even a crack for the Digimon's efforts. Demon's own office was nearby. Where, or if, he slept, his subordinates didn't know, as Demon was a firm believer in survival of the fittest, and so he kept his own schedule unpredictable in order to make assassination that much more difficult.

  
  


Still, he usually managed to show up if an underling approached with urgent business. Demon was waiting over his favorite item of power, examining it for further secrets. It resembled a petrified small tree or pitcher plant, running from its roots up for about six inches, where a black orb was lovingly cradled, only half visible. Demon, a tall humanoid Digimon swathed in red robes almost completely obscuring his form, but for red eyes and his horns, was poking at the orb with a claw, seemingly entranced by the sparks it produced.

  
  


"My lord, no attempt has been made at the gate yet," said the Ultimate demon-type, standing at attention. Demon heard, of course.

  
  


Demon nodded. The most ancient of the tablets had contained a small mention of the odd Digivices that Lady Devimon had glimpsed before she was forced to return to the Digital World to ensure the latest captives safe passage across the barrier between worlds. As with all Digivices and such artifacts, their power was mentioned as incredible, and Demon was well aware of the damage a human equipped with a Digivice could do! 

  
  


However, the presence of those Digivices was actually a reassurance to Demon. The prophecies spoke that the inheritors of the crests would possess the funny shaped devices. It meant that at least two of the future Digidestined had been hit by his spells of darkness, binding them away from their trait as much as possible. The fact that they had broken through the spells, somehow, was a minor inconvenience at worst, and meant Demon simply reappraised these two Digidestined a notch or two higher on the value scale. 

  
  


The most critical event to Demon's plans were that they were older Digivices, and thus couldn't create gates on their own. D-3s could create temporary warps in space to travel between worlds, but other Digivices were simply along for the ride. Travel to the Digital World was restricted via the Digi-port until a partner reached champion at least, so they had some time, as most of the Gates were monitored carefully. Since Demon couldn't go walking through computer screens, he had created a gate of his own in the playground at the school in Odaiba which was in the general center of where most of the candidates lived, and where Jessica and Allen went to school. Lady Devimon had used power to block the gate partially, and the apparent limitless power hadn't extended to breaking through, and so Demon had ignored it. Evidently, they were waiting for allies.

  
  


Demon shook himself from his ruminations. He doubted anyone had noticed the lapse, but it was unwise to encourage such habits, "How goes your other project?" he asked, tapping the orb in a random pattern. It flared for a moment, and Demon took note. He would eventually get the blasted thing working....

  
  


Lady Devimon slumped slightly. "Well, while we can be certain that we have two who who's crests have begun to activate, it will be a while before they have enough energy to help restore the Digital World. We're having difficulty with the others. Convincing them to help us with their crests are running up against the same spell that weakens them sufficiently to allow us control. Unless we can do something, when and if they do break free, we won't be able to get them to help stop the energy drain." 

  
  


Demon laughed, "You're missing the obvious. We have far more candidates than Digidestined. Put them through a test. I want them ... forged is the best word I believe. It is drastic, but even the Wall's power cannot hide us forever from those who seek us."

  
  


Lady Devimon gulped and looked at the Wall of Fire. Demon had been unclear of his origins, but his knowledge of the Digital Gate made Lady Devimon assume he was a local, 0rn born of the Dark Ocean, since all the Wall of Fire Digimon had been able to access the Real World via ancient gates, or warping the world so far out of balance it touched the Real World. Still, it was rumored that even Apocalymon had barely survived his passage, and all the Digimon who followed once the barrier was broken had been weakened despite the far greater ease of passage. And it was obvious that one of the few things Demon feared was the Wall of Fire, since Demon only feared what he could not control, and that was a very short list topped by the four foolish Holy Beasts. What Demon was suggesting could very well end up with a lack of candidates.

  
  


Demon explained. Holding your cards close was one thing, but if a Digimon trusted what you were doing, things went better. "The Wall of Fire is an immense power of good and light around a vortex of evil, burning away all that is not pure. Since nothing is pure goodness except for the Spirit of the Crest of Light, and POSSIBLY the very spirit of the Digital World itself, most are at least scorched by a close approach to the Wall. However, the spells we placed should shield the children temporarily, if they have merged with a crest, the darkness spells will be stronger, and the Digidestined will be able to approach close enough to come into a minimal contact with the void," Demon said. He gestured at the black stone of his desk and the barracks, and further explained, "Nothing can stand near the Wall for long without being either consumed, or touched by the evil power within. They will die, or they will be in our service, in possession of their powers and unwilling to allow the Guardian to continue with his plan." 

Lady Devimon smiled and agreed. When it was said that way, it made sense. After all, something was usually lost in the process of obtaining greater things, and the reward at the end was sweet indeed. And Demon was further right that waiting for the Digidestined to reveal themselves was time they did not have. The 4 Holy Beasts were aware that something was beginning to upset THEIR plans for the Digital World, and if they were found, it would all be over before things had begun.

  
  


Demon said, "Now begin the testing process, and don't return until you've determined who was merely tempted, and which is a broken Digidestined. I have a plan for the other two to put into effect." Lady Devimon flew towards the barracks and Demon allowed himself one tiny chuckle. "Gennai, you old fool, did you really think that something as valuable as a Digimon creation spell would simply be lying around?" Demon concentrated on the orb in front of him, and mist flew out of it and began to gather.

  
  


************************

  
  


It was a cloudy day back in Odaiba district, city of Tokyo, Kanto prefecture, in the state of Japan. Jessica and Allen had been training under Digitamamon before school each day now for almost a week. The egg Digimon had reached ultimate with the help of Jessica's mother, and was familiar with basic strength and speed exercises. "It's easier with two Digimon, though Jess, since they can get an idea for what works and doesn't even in a mock-battle," explained Digitamamon. The other portion of the training was to learn which card combinations worked well and which didn't, as well as increase the endurance of the Tamer holding the card.

  
  


"Don't call me Jess," Jessica corrected automatically. Only her parents and their Digimon called her that, and she'd been trying for years to break them of the habit. It made her sound young. Crystalmon and Guilmon had been working for about a half hour now. Neither used their special attacks to decrease the risks of permanent damage.

  
  


Allen had discovered early that Guilmon had great endurance, and decent enough speed. Strength or Toughness enhancements were Allen's usual way to go, since they seemed more effective than speed enhancements anyway, so that when Guilmon landed a hit, it would be enough to earn a fall. 

Crystalmon, meanwhile, had little enough toughness beneath thin scales that there was little data that could be enhanced. Speed or power modifiers worked well. Jessica's current favorite was the iron claw, that didn't slow Crystalmon down very much, but gave Crystalmon the ability to tear at concrete even! 

  
  


Right now, however, the two Digimon were lying on the ground, panting. They were both worn out, and tied with an even number of falls. One more fall would end it, since they had to go to school. Jessica glanced at the next card she had chosen. The recharge card would fully restore Crystalmon's energy, but was intended for higher-level Digimon. Jessica had decided it was the step a few days ago on the way to trying out a digivolution card, and since they had managed four digi-modifies lately without falling down, and they had each tried one today. Jessica decided it would at least catch Allen totally by surprise if it worked, and if it didn't, then nothing would happen and she would try something smaller. Jessica flipped the card around, quickly bringing it through the reader attached to the D-Power. "Digi-modify: Recharge!" Jessica yelled, and then felt the usual energy drain, but it seemed to be going on for a little longer than normal. Jessica watched the data progression meter climb up, and noted it started to slow. "Oh, no you don't! I'm going to do this!" Jessica cried, and she focused on the D-Power greatly. The last thing she heard was Crystalmon standing back up before she collapsed.

  
  


Crystalmon slumped over again, the recharge having not taken full effect. Digitamamon caught the girl with a Nightmare Syndromer as Allen dropped his D-Power to run over. Guilmon stumbled over to check Crystalmon, and was relieved to find she was still breathing. Any excess energy had simply left, leaving her where she was. After a moment, she stood and walked by her Tamer.

  
  


Digitamamon examined the card and said angrily, "What was she thinking? That's way higher than we said was safe? She's usually such a good listener. I'm starting to wonder about these D-Powers."

  
  


Allen said simply, "Pain is part of growing, Digitamamon. And Guilmon could feel it almost work. I could sense his surprise." Digitamamon blinked a bit at that. He had figured it had been a last gesture of defiance, but she may be stronger than the butterfly he had thought her to be. Allen being able to pick up on the emotions sent by Guilmon wasn't anything surprising by now. When Crystalmon was Slithermon, she and Jessica had been doing it all the time.

  
  


Jessica stirred and said weakly, "Well, did it work?" After her eyes fluttered open, Allen shook his head. Jessica sighed and said, "Well, it almost worked. I thought with just a little more effort..." Jessica closed her eyes and relaxed, enjoying the floating sensation of the Syndromer for a moment.

  
  


Crystalmon said in an encouraging tone, "You were close. Maybe next time, if you haven't done any digi-modifies yet, you could pull it off!" Jessica smiled and stroked Crystalmon for a moment before standing, though her knees were shaky for a moment.

  
  


Guilmon said, "Well, your recovery times have been going way up since we started, at least." 

  
  


Jessica said in a husky tone, "A little more of this and I'll be ready to help go after them." Jessica looked at her watch and then yelped, "Okay, no time to go and shower off before school! My grade's headed to the Digital World on a field trip today, and then there's the first club meeting since Lady Devimon!" 

  
  


Allen looked interested. He was one grade higher, and hadn't heard about this, "Planning on a little side trip?" 

  
  


Jessica said wistfully, "That would be a good idea, but I don't quite feel up to wandering around the Digital World myself right now. Maybe if that card had worked." 

  
  


"Next time," Crystalmon said firmly and Jessica nodded in agreement.

  
  


****************************

  
  


The school day passed relatively quickly up to the point of the field trip. Jessica's class was looking forward to seeing the natural paradise that was the Digital World. They had been quite somber with the apparent Wild One attacks and disappearances. Jessica had decided Gennai didn't want to alarm anyone and had kept his own council. 

  
  


Soon the class crowded around a large holographic monitor that quickly displayed the transfer program when their teacher put her D-3 up to it. Children and Digimon crowded around eagerly, and chanted the access phrase together. A bolt of blinding light filled the room as people were transferred across the dimensions, leaving one surprised Tamer and her Digimon.

  
  


"You know, this thing was working this morning, right?" Jessica asked. Crystalmon nodded in surprise.

  
  


"Twenty-six, twenty-seven," counted the teacher, "All right, who's hiding! It's not funny?"

  
  


"Digi-port open! Oh, come on! Digi-port open!" Jessica yelled at it. The hologram crackled with energy. Jessica's teacher turned in surprise to see the hologram going in and out of focus along with the picture, before snapping back in relief as a force threw Jessica backwards into a chair, Crystalmon slamming into her. Jessica hissed as one of Crystalmon's back-ridges slashed her on the arm. 

  
  


Jessica's teacher's Wizardmon said in astonishment, "It's warded against her! It must have been you got caught in what wiped out the Wild Ones last week. I haven't seen this happen in a long time! Sorry Jessica, I'll see if I can ring up a Guardian later and figure out what's going on." The Gate program, no longer supported by the D-3 blinked out a second after that.

  
  


"Lady Devimon," Crystalmon said as a curse. "She doesn't want us going through until we face her." Jessica nodded. It made sense. One didn't set up a duel and let someone try and sneak by the conditions. Still, it meant Jessica's relaxation time was off. 

  
  


"Come on, let's get to the Principal's Office or something," Jessica said, "What a lousy day."

  
  


"Oh, can't we stay? I know where your teacher hides the Tootsie Roll Pops!" said Crystalmon eagerly. Jessica laughed, her mood improved a bit.

  
  


At the end of the day, she was feeling a bit more depressed. Walking around school had worn her out more than usual falling her fainting this morning, and she would have rather been exhausted walking around the Digital World. Not to mention the filing she had to help with when she had been stuck in the Office, and cleaning the classroom. Allen had shown up at the usual meeting classroom early, and the two were waiting for everyone to show up. "I guess the Digital World trip took a little while longer than they thought," offered Allen when it was the time of the meeting.

  
  


"Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me!" yelped a young voice down the hall, "I'm so late!!!" came a wail before the door flew open, and a young girl with brown hair done up in pigtails with freckles dotting her face stood huffing there, a Tanemon, leafy green and cute, held tight in her arms. 

  
  


Jessica grinned, "Hey Hikari! Come on in, you're right on time!" Hikari Akagi was two grades lower than Jessica, and so barely into the school. Still, she firmly believed that Digimon were meant to protect people, emotionally and physically, and was sweet to boot. 

  
  


Hikari's face drooped, "So they're not coming today, huh?" The others looked quizzical and Hikari explained, "Everyone got a little worried with all the attacks last week, and wondered what was going on with the club, since a lot of people were suddenly having Ultimate-level power-ups, and then you've both got different Digivices and Digimon. They weren't sure if they were going to come."

  
  


Jessica put her head down for a moment and Hikari winced, knowing Jessica had a good week, but... Jessica raised a hand in the air, fist clenched in partial victory, and said, "Well, at least you trust me, Hikari. We're down a little, but not out." 

  
  


Hikari flashed a victory sign, "Definitely the spirit to have! Frankly, I think Crystalmon and Guilmon look cool, and you've got such a neater Digivice than mine," she said, displaying her standard model. "Though we're all going to have to bring a lot of brownies to the bake sale." The two others nodded in agreement. If they were at three members instead of ten, and they had promised a certain amount for the all-club fair, they were going to be busy.

  
  


The two went over various club activities. Hikari had brought her cards, and a card reader, and she was busy playing with the decks that Allen and Jessica had brought. "That's funny," she said, "You don't have any advanced level cards in here at all. You'd get your butts beaten in for sure."

  
  


Guilmon said casually, "Well, we can't quite digi-modify with the top level stuff yet." 

  
  


Hikari leaned forward in interest, and Jessica hit her head on the table. "Guilmon! My parents don't know about that yet!" said Jessica. Guilmon blushed and looked chagrined. 

  
  


Allen rolled his eyes and asked, "Why haven't you told your parents? Hikari, I'll explain in a minute."

  
  


Jessica said, "Well, for one thing, you saw what happened with the newspaper. They thing I'm ready to snap for anything, and I haven't yet, and I was like that for a long time. If they thought I was preparing to go rescue some people, they'd lock me or Crystalmon up. For that matter, they're pretty set in with the status quo, and I'm not sure how they would take it." Desperation rolled off Jessica for a minute before she swept her hair back, "But we are doing good, right Allen? It's been a rough week, and I'm not sure if anything's improving." 

  
  


Allen gave a brief synopsis and Tanemon and Hikari's eyes shone. "That is so cool!" she said, "Digivolving takes forever to get to, but that means you're actually doing something to help instead of just shouting pop psychology at them! I'd love to be able to do that." Jessica looked at the young girl in surprise, who grabbed Jessica's hands and said, "What you have is a very special gift, Jessica, and you're dealing with the unknown, just like you've always wanted to."

  
  


Jessica's smile widened, "You know what? You're right?" Jessica embraced the other girl for a second, "Thanks a lot Hikari. I wish I saw things as clearly as you did." 

  
  


Tanemon boasted, "Thank you. She's some of my finest work." Everyone chuckled, and the tension left the meeting as they discussed baking issues and such.

  
  


Allen frowned, and then thought for a moment, "I guess I'll see if anyone's hanging around and couldn't make it because they were worn out by the field trip." Allen paused, and said, "Wait: Hikari, you're over in another wing in the building, right?" Hikari nodded. "I'm on the third floor of Odaiba middle, and Jessica was in the office, so did anyone actually see any of Jessica's class make it back?" Everyone mulled that for a second, before the three Digimon suddenly gasped, Jessica and Allen going pale for a second. Hikari looked envious. She wished she could feel what was going on.

  
  


"Construct? Why would it appear here" Jessica asked when she recovered. Still shaken, Crystalmon merely nodded. 

  
  


Tanemon said weakly, "It's not just that. It seems funny. It's not radiating the normal sort of energy that even a ghost Digimon has. It feels .. hungry." The three thought about that silently for a little while.

  
  


Allen gasped, "Oh no! With your class gone, that means most of the rookies are gone as well, and it's only been the possibility of Phantomon coming back that's held off other gangs. No one's going to respect a group of rookies, even Guilmon." 

  
  


Hikari gulped, "You mean there really isn't anyone to guard against it?" Instead of replying, the two grabbed their decks. Hoping distantly, Hikari grabbed her combat-ready deck as well. Tanemon couldn't do a lot right now, but strange things had been happening lately.

  
  


"There you are!" roared the Digimon in a monotone when the three ran out of school. It was a large tree-like creature, with glowing points for eyes. Behind it, they could see just a trace of a portal into the Digital World closing. Jessica thought, saddened, Great, we hesitated and we missed a chance to try and get through! Allen ran the analyzer program on his D-Power.

  
  


"Woodmon. Champion level. It's a viral type. It drains opponents energy or beats them with its branches," reported Allen, "You guys sure it's just a construct?" The three Digimon nodded and jumped forward. 

  
  


A sphere of flames, two darts of light, and a set of bubbles impacted against the champion. The bubbles merely popped against it, and the shard daggers picked splinters out of one branch, but the pyro sphere set its top ablaze. 

  
  


Woodmon ignored it, "Lady Devimon said to tell you your class was a lovely addition. It's a shame that you three are too weak to get through, as then she would have been content with merely Jessica," the tree calmly reported. Jessica gaped at the statement. It wasn't one of Gennai's, this had been sent just to torment them.

  
  


However, evidently it was a lot smarter than Gennai's, as it used the moment of confusion to grab Crystalmon and shout, "Energy drain!" in a monotone. White light coursed along the branch, before extinguishing the flame still burning in the top. 

  
  


Allen was angry, "Don't you dare do that! Digi-modify, seed of strength!" Blue lightning skittered along the card for a moment, and Guilmon roared with Allen jumped twice as high as usual as Allen wiped the sweat off for a second. Odd, that was hardly draining at all, thought the Tamer.

  
  


Guilmon impacted on top of Woodmon, and started ripping at in fury, Allen cheering it on. Hikari and Tanemon were looking at the worried Jessica and Crystalmon, who laid unmoving, and Jessica wasn't doing much better. Hikari said, "Jessica! You've got to help Allen! He's too close to Guilmon right now, and Guilmon's revulsion at the construct is affecting both their judgements! Look!" Jessica stirred slightly at the order, looking through blank eyes at Allen gnashing his teeth for a second, uncomprehending.

  
  


Jessica took a deep breath and shook yourself. "Right. I can't retreat into myself right now, and if Woodmon can hit Guilmon with a branch, it's all over. It's too strong! This isn't Crystalmon's little claws, he should be hanging back." Jessica suddenly felt through her pockets, "Hikari, where's my cards?" she asked urgently. Hikari pointed and Jessica groaned. She had dropped them when she saw Crystalmon go down. She scrambled to reach them, but then Guilmon was finally hit with a flailing branch. Red energy fed the Woodmon, fixing most of its damage. Allen fell to his knees, not quite back to his senses yet. 

  
  


Hikari pushed a card urgently into her hand, "You need a strong card right now! Try this!" Jessica laughed, despite the situation when she saw it was a recharge card like earlier.

  
  


Okay, the Tamer thought, I can do this. People are counting on me, or more people will get hurt. We can't let stuff come through that gate. Hikari looks up to me, and we need to knock this thing back and teach them they can't just slap something together, let it think, and use it as a weapon. Concentrate! 

  
  


Jessica closed her eyes and focused inwards. "I'm going to need your help," she said inside the blackness. It wasn't quite as cold.

  
  


"Agreed. I'll do what I can. Focus on reaching outwards," suggested the voice coming from the depths of Jessica's mind. Jessica simply stood for a second, though Woodmon continued to trot towards them. 

  
  


Hikari yelped but hung onto Jessica's arm when her skin went cold for a second, followed a soft pink light seeming to emanate from inside her. "What's going on? Is this a Tamer thing?" she asked Tanemon. The tiny plant looked up helplessly and kept throwing bubbles at the advancing menace.

  
  


Jessica was paying no attention to what Hikari said, and didn't seem to notice that she was glowing with energy when she opened her eyes, staring only at the card held in her hand. "Digi-modify! Recharge!" A flare of lilac lightning ran across the D-Power's screen as the card went through the reader, and Hikari, still holding onto Jessica's arm, looked in wonder as energy passed through her, down her other arm, and into the Digivice. Operating on instincts she wasn't quite sure about, the pigtailed girl held the Digivice high into the air. Crystalmon, meanwhile, had her eyes snap back open and she growled at the Construct. The recharge evidently was a bit much for a rookie, judging by the extra white lightning over the Digimon's form. Wood mon paused as it tried to put this through her programming.

  
  


The Digivice's energy shot outwards, enveloping the in-training Digimon in front of Hikari. "Tanemon, warp digivolve to Togemon!" said the tiny plant, quickly becoming what big cactus. Togemon rubbed her gloves together, "All right you sorry excuse for a tree! Let's see what happens when you pick on someone your own size! Needle spray!" Togemon hunched slightly before launching a shower of darts that bounced off the outer bark. The cactus was undeterred, "Lightning jab!" Togemon stomped forward, giving a powerful right hook that sent the tree stumbling backwards.

  
  


"Dragon fang!" roared Crystalmon as Jessica stood there, smiling proudly. The energy surge and the triangle that formed were larger than usual, and left a nasty scorch mark through the outer bark of the Construct right below Woodmon's nose.

  
  


Hikari shouted, "Togemon! There's your target!" 

  
  


"Gotcha, Hikari! Needle spray!" Togemon launched her special attack again, directing the shower into the broken spot in Woodmon's armor. The tree paused, stricken, as a dozen needles were lanced through his face, before sighing slightly with release as his data dissolved. 

  
  


Hikari cheered and ran up to hug Togemon, "Great work! You hit two levels higher and you stopped Woodmon from doing any damage!" Togemon grinned, but right before Hikari got there, shrunk to Tanemon, before going through Palmon to Togemon, and back down again. "Huh?" said Hikari intelligently.

  
  


Guilmon, a bit recovered and looking sheepish at his breakdown in discipline, said, "I don't know how Jessica got all that energy, but you got a big unstable jolt of it, and so did Togemon. Her digivolution code has been activated, but the energy flux means she isn't stabilized anywhere yet, though she'll probably settle on her rookie stage." Hikari nodded. "Speaking of energy," continued Guilmon, "that digi-modify felt different from practice."

  
  


Allen said, "I don't know. I was worried for Jessica and Hikari, and I didn't want them hurt. I blanked out a little after that." Allen waved himself, "Is it hot out here? I feel like I'm burning up. It's getting better, but it's like I was in a blast furnace for a minute." The two shook their heads. "Oh well, it's fading." 

  
  


Jessica said to the younger girl, drawing the attention back to herself, "Thank you so much Hikari. I feel a lot more myself than I did. It's been a bad day, but thanks for showing me where my priorities should be." Hikari grinned warmly in response. Jessica said, "Come on, let's head inside. I feel chilly and shaky from that digi-modify, and we've got brownie duty to divvy up, as well and see what happened to the kids." No one noticed the black crack of energy as the gate by the school was set fully shut again.

  
  


Demon scowled slightly into his orb. Behind him, the wall crackled as children were driven to their breaking point by being presented to its power. Some shattered, but one or two so far had broken clean. More would follow, but this was more important for the moment.

  
  


There was greater power than he had expected yet, though it had disappeared as quickly as it had begun. Obviously, they couldn't control that energy, or the girl would have digivolved her much stronger rookie to a champion rather than let the plant move in for the kill. He'd have to see about putting in a spy to see if there were side effects. Lady Devimon's taunt about the children only seemed to make them fight harder, and Demon made a note to make no such mistakes in the future.

  
  


"Lady Devimon, what did you do with the children?" he asked. 

  
  


The female bat-winged Digimon replied, "I found a few that possibly could be used. The rest I had standing by in a wait-state to be released back to the classroom after Woodmon was destroyed. If you want, I could go in and grab those Digidestined."

  
  


Demon shook his head, "No. We learned quite a bit today from this fight, especially on how to and not to handle a Digidestined. Besides, the added power to their Digimon, which I would like to know more about, by the way; set them emotionally and mentally off-balance for a moment. I need to see if they're stable, or we should see about tracking down two other Crest-bearers if they spontaneously combust. If we bring them to the Digital World now, the extra strength granted to their Digimon could make it impossible for us to communicate with us, especially with the dumbed-down version of the Construct spell I used so we could cover our retreat. That reminds me: Go see and make sure that the Constructs haven't gotten stuck by a wall in there way or something." Lady Devimon turned to leave, but Demon had one more soft comment to add, "Actually, send in a child. I'd like to know more about these cards." The Ultimate Digimon saluted once and faded out, and Demon sat back to contemplate. The game was afoot, and he needed to know more about his hand.

  
  


To be continued:

  
  


I thought Demon got underused in Plothole City of Season II. He deserves a second chance at evil, as he's obviously very powerful. He'll be ONE of the villains. 

  
  


Second chapter for fanfiction net finished today (well, started yesterday -within nine hours). So .... very... tired.

  
  
  
  


Well, they do have some limits on their powers yet, huh. I figured a few growth chapters would be good before they get the energy to at least hit champion. Not sure for how I'm going to handle the higher levels.

  
  


Hikari was brought in as damsel as distress, and someone will need to give a visible presence to prevent someone nasty from taking over the neighborhood. Togemon fits the description nicely. I'm not sure what will happen to her yet in the end, but for now the Tamers need a cheering section to access their strength.

  
  


Demon's clever, and he feels he can wait. After all, he has numbers on his side, and he's already started to start the process of training his Digidestined. 

  
  


I didn't feel mean enough to wipe out an entire class of unnamed extras. They'll probably be shaky though. 

  
  


I was planning for Jessica to be more morose, but I decided she was now a little stronger than that. Any one of the things today would have broken Jessica under Demon's spell. In this case, it just slowed her down and weakened her a little. 

  
  


The focus is on Allen next time as they experiment more with their powers, and we'll see what is the end result of the area near the school. Will it stay serene, or turn into a battlefield?


	4. Hidden Power of Angels

Crystal Tamers

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Part Four: The Hidden Power of the Gate 

  
  


Disclaimer: I still don't own Digimon, much as I'd like to

  
  


**********************

  
  


The end of the threat to the Dark Masters was probably the single biggest event ever in the history of both worlds, as the Digital World started cranking out Digimon to every man, woman, and child on Earth. The first thing most young children, in the process of growing up, try to do when they take full responsibility for their partner is to attempt to help their partner grow up as well. While it's a useful learning process, parents should keep careful watch over the Digimon in question, as the usual response by young children is to stuff their Digimon completely with food, or have it battle overly-strong opponents in an effort to increase its power.

  
  


Prologue to Care and Feeding of Digital Partners, Second edition, by Jyou "Joe" Kido. 

  
  


************************

  
  


Gennai stood in the Digital World upon File Island, in a rather simple looking clearing with bright green leafy trees all around. In fact, this area seemed brighter than usual for the Digital World of late, but Gennai assumed it was because of the importance of the island. It had been quite a while since he visited the Digital World's figurative center, and things seemed to be quiet here. Which was exactly what Gennai wasn't expecting to find. There had been bizarre unexplained disappearances, leading right up to a class of students that vanished for several hours on Server before being dropped back in their classroom with their memories drained. 

  
  


Gennai would have assumed a Virus had gotten a little uppity except that the class's real world origin point was Odaiba Middle School. There had been a breakthrough from the Digital World in that location, despite Blackwargreymon's seal supposedly being in effect. And then not one, but two rookies of unknown origin had appeared. Slithermon didn't evolve into dragons normally, they were a rare in-training that usually end up as Betamons and very occasionally Veemons. Agumon's basic data pattern being converted into a completely different, but stronger format was just as surprising. 

  
  


Gennai was distracted when a distortion ran through local space before Azulongmon warped in from his usual hiding spot, overseeing the Digital World. A few small rookies and in-training types, along with a huge cloud of butterflies, broke from the vegetation at the sudden appearance of the Mega. The dragon's eyes lit up for a second, and snapped up much of the cloud, "Excuse me, hungry," the Holy Beast mumbled.

  
  


Gennai nodded his understanding. The Holy Beasts were putting together a spell that they hoped would end evil in the Digital World, and it was taking much of their energy, and the energy drain was increasing. Originally, the Holy Beasts had the power of the Crests to drawn upon, as Gennai had convinced the Digidestined to transfer the power of the spirits of the Digital World into the void, creating a seal that also revived the Holy Beasts sufficiently to break from their imprisonment. The flow had been slackening recently, and the Holy Beasts usually voracious appetites (it took a lot to power bodies of their level) had increased geometrically. Now, whenever Gennai met one of his superiors, they were either eating or looking for food.

  
  


"You know, I don't think he'll like the fact that you're eating butterflies. He's always been fond of them," Gennai noted.

  
  


Azulongmon gave a long shrug that traveled down his body, "That's his problem. There's little he can do but make feeble protests these days, anyway. Besides, we're doing it to help him and the rest of the worlds, why can't he accept it?" 

  
  


Gennai wasn't planning on answering, and was saved when a dark crackle of energy split the air open with a thunder crack, letting a cloud of butterflies through. Gennai took the cue as Azulongmon watched in astonishment, "This is the reason I called you away from your work. This gate connects to Odaiba, and it should be impossible to reach that location. For that matter, any gate should have either shut all the way or open all the way, instead, it's merely open a crack. And then there's the butterfly swarms that keep coming through." 

  
  


Azulongmon frowned. This wasn't tidy, he disliked that, and he had detected a hint of dark energy. "Do you think it's related to those Digivices you mentioned earlier?"

  
  


Gennai said, "I'm almost positive it is. I've been doing some research, and no prophecy I've yet discovered says anything about that sort of Digivice. They seem to be running off an alternative power source than the Digital World's basic framework. They seem to have data manipulation abilities, which made me originally believe there may have been Crests involved, but I couldn't detect any trace of energy off either of the partners. With the increased disappearances and the warp, I had to return here and I could not continue investigating." 

  
  


Azulongmon asked gently, "Do you believe they're dangerous?"

  
  


"They're wild cards," said Gennai after a moment, "And nothing has ever been said about that, through all the Digital World's mystics. On the other hand, there is this gate that occasionally opens for a moment. Who knows what could come through?" he asked in an ominous tone.

  
  


Azulongmon studied the gate closely for a moment, "Despite the danger, I sense energy leaking through the gate, preventing it from shutting. Perhaps, if there is something afoot, we should send an agent that can't be directly linked back to us. We need to acquire all the energy sources we can, with the disappearance of the Crests." Gennai nodded with firm agreement, and quickly began weaving together the mists of a Digital Construct. It would take several hours to form and make its way to the Digital World if it was to move quietly.

  
  


****************

Unlike File Island, back in Odaiba the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. The sun burned through Allen's windows onto his face, as Allen hadn't managed to replace his alarm clock yet. Allen yawned as he sat up in bed, nudging Guilmon, who was sleeping on a blanket nest in the corner. Guilmon blinked in surprise and said reproachfully, "You woke me up from a great dream. I was living in the land of hot fudge sundaes."

  
  


Allen laughed, "Maybe we'll get ice cream later. Right now we have training practice, and Hikari will be there as well and she needs some help. Tanemon is still fluxing all over the place, and Jessica and Crystalmon still don't know what they did. And Digitamamon is busy shaking down his sources, so we don't even have his help," Allen finished somberly. They had a half-day with Saturday classes, and then they were going to research the D-Powers some more. Digitamamon was busy calling up old experienced Digimon he knew in both worlds to see if anyone knew anything about the D-Powers. Jessica's parents were still along the lines that Digitamamon was humoring her little sudden obsession with Digimon cards.

  
  


As Allen finished dressing for the day and putting his sports goggles in his backpack for soccer after school, Guilmon asked suddenly, "You're not mad about what happened against the second Construct, are you? You've been awfully quiet the last few days, and you didn't slash any cards in the last battle." Allen shook his head. There had been another Construct after that, but none had shown up for about two days now, and no wild ones either. 

  
  


"Togemon did do most of the work against that Construct, remember? Jessica didn't do anything with her card either," Allen kneeled down and came face to snout with his partner, "So you got hurt a little and broadcast at me. We've got a special link, remember. Crystalmon and Jessica can't hear each other as well as you and I can, and they've been doing it since they were babies. You don't always hear what you want." Guilmon nodded, and the two went out for breakfast.

  
  


"Actually, I've been quiet because it's the first Saturday of the month today. And ever since you transformed, the more I think about it, the angrier I've been getting," Allen trailed off when he saw his parents and Mamemon. The bomb-throwing Ultimate was doing squats in the living room, warming up. Allen supposed his father's Birdramon was hanging out somewhere nearby. 

  
  


"About what son?" his father asked. Despite the warm weather, he was wearing sweats. 

  
  


Allen shook his head, "Well, I'm not to fond of you guys bringing an Ultimate as backup when you make collection rounds for the local watch. Everyone is glad to pay up around here. All you're doing is breeding fear."

  
  


The two looked surprised. Allen had been rather apathetic about his parents' duty as neighborhood watch members to get the money that went to battling Digimon upkeep. "Of course, he's been a bit broken up about Margaret," said his mother knowingly, "Don't worry Allen, we'll come back safe. There's just a few people out there who might try and attack us for the cash. It's not like the nice simple area you were helping to keep up." 

  
  


Allen was shocked beyond speech by the comparison of the person he admired more than anyone in the world with his parents' strong arm tactics. His parents leaving the room helped him get his tongue back, as well as Guilmon's gentle presence, "That doesn't factor into this at all! What's the enemy you're guarding against? This part of town is nice and peaceful, and how do you get off having Mamemon toss bombs around in the background? We're not yakuza!"

  
  


"Hush! Allen, you may feel pride for your little efforts near your school, but this is the real grown-up world. I know you're all broken up with poor Margaret, but you still have to at least think!" his mother snapped irritably. They were late, and it wouldn't do to let people think they could get away. Allen took an involuntary step backwards in shock, and only a quick gesture prevented Guilmon from moving to attack. The trio stepped outside, leaving the boy and Digimon alone in the apartment.

  
  


Allen sat down in surprise, "Was I ever like that Guilmon?" 

  
  


The red dinosaur shook his head, "No," he replied, "You pretty much stayed to the background and played soldier. You were happy to protect against Wild Ones, but you stayed mostly out of the money portions. For that matter, until Margaret digivolved Phantomon and started taking a greater area to control, we pretty much relied on donations. Afterwards, we took the additional money to help pay for some guards full-time." 

  
  


Allen shook his head and stared out at the city scape. A few blackened scars and broken windows were visible in the apartment across from his, the remnants of confused Digimon and angry humans colliding. Even with Phantomon's dark digivolution, Margaret had kept things under control. "I miss you so much," he whispered sadly. Now, Margaret was who knew where, and under the control of a dark spell

  
  


I could help you find her if you gave yourself up, whispered a women's voice for a second before fading. Allen shivered violently in reaction. "No, Margaret would want me free to be able to greet her when she breaks out." A chuckle rang through the room, more audible this time, You silly. My lord has allowed the gate to leak something through, not of his own devising. If you care so much, you might want to stop it. This delightful little chat is only a lucky side effect, as you are still trembling on the precipice. Fall in!, barked the voice. Shadows started to coil for the boy.

  
  


Allen stood stock still for a moment, and then drew his D-Power. "Digi-modify! Angemon!" Guilmon roared once as his fist blazed with holy energies. Against such light, darkness had no respite but to escape. After a moment, the energy faded and Allen sunk down. "That takes a LOT out of you," he whispered. 

  
  


Guilmon shook his head, "This is bad, if she's trying to get at you again." Guilmon paused, "Wait: did she say the gate was open?" Allen grabbed two rolls from the counter and was out the door in response, tossing one to Guilmon as he ran.

  
  


Jessica, meanwhile, had finished breakfast with Crystalmon hovering protectively on her shoulder. She had felt a gathering chill of energy, and blamed it on the fact that the collection rounds were today. Crystalmon's natural aura was somewhat of a proof against the attacks of darkness, so the little Digimon was pumping her energy into increasing that aura. The girl brushed hair that was in the way of her rice and thought Probably why Slithermon digivolved as she had. Digimon help ward off inner demons, and now Crystalmon can deal with the outer ones as well. As such, she didn't realize anything was going on until a frantic phone call.

  
  


"Jessica, is this you? It's Hikari! Palmon, wait, Togemon, wait never mind, Palmon sensed a dark wave coming out from the school. I couldn't feel anything, and I really did try!" Hikari sounded near tears.

  
  


"Don't worry Hikari. Crystalmon's been using her powers on low all morning. I know that the collection rounds are getting made, and we didn't want to deal with the dark energies from that. Let me find my cards and we'll go and help." Hikari agreed, and they quickly hung up. Crystalmon collapsed the aura and both shivered.

  
  


Crystalmon said through gritted teeth, "It feels different than the last two constructs. It doesn't feel viral, but more of a mockery." 

  
  


"Did Gennai fall back on an older model or something?" Jessica asked, grabbing her bookbag. There wouldn't be time to return for it before school. The two quickly ran to the door, locking it and waiting for the elevator.

  
  


Crystalmon said, "I don't know. Remember the first one was a lot more powerful, even if it was an idiot. Woodmon and Blacktyrannomon were both viruses. And they popped through the gate whole. This one is becoming more and more distinct." Jessica didn't like the sound of that. If two groups were sending extra Wild Ones into the area, and with so few champions near the school, someone could get hurt if one came through during the day. 

  
  


The elevator arrived, and the two reached the lobby level. When the elevator dinged, both stepped back as a wave of heat assaulted them. Jessica groaned when she saw what it was. A Skullmeramon, blue flames surrounding a body perpetually near the melting point, was waiting in the lobby. "No one leaves until they're done paying!" roared the Skullmeramon. A clatter of footsteps came down the extra-sized stairs, and Togemon and Hikari, who lived three floors down, groaned when they saw what was in the way. Jessica seriously doubted that a sometimes Champion and a Rookie, even with modification abilities, could get past Skullmeramon without taking the place out. "Come on, let's get to the roof, we'll need to signal Allen," Jessica said. Hikari followed.

  
  


Skullmeramon, meanwhile, had heard the conversation. Winged rookie + Digivices = Trouble, thought the Ultimate. He quickly wandered outside, ready to take them out when they flew off the roof. 

  
  


Allen, meanwhile ran through the streets, trying to hide in the building's shadows when possible. Allen knew there were several ultimates and probably another two dozen champions out shaking down people for cash in the area. Allen looked at his Digivice, set to a fairly low zoom rate, as it picked up not only Digivices, but also Digimon in the area. Even with the sensitivity scaled down to where he could get an accurate reading in ten meters, the Digital Construct's signature was blatant enough to show up. "How come no one else can sense these things?"

  
  


Guilmon shrugged, "We're just sensitive. You're great that way." Allen snorted, and Lady Devimon's voice chuckled, but Guilmon continued, "No, really! Even before I transformed to Guilmon, you were always aware. Now you're just learning to be more aware of people." 

  
  


"Thanks Guilmon, that means a lot coming from you. I look around and I see what I probably could have become in a few years and that scares me," whispered Allen. They were nearly to Jessica's building, but she didn't seem to be in range. Then Allen saw the reason and brought up the analyzer program even as he ran to the cover of an alley. "Skullmeramon. Ultimate level, and with his fiery body its not like Togemon could really even touch him. Shoots hot lead as the metal fire ball attack. A real nasty customer." Allen quickly fished out a couple cards, "I've been wanting to try this combo out. You ready?" Guilmon nodded in response, though a bit shakily. The Construct, evidently was nearly finished forming.

  
  


Allen flipped the first card around and into the slot, "Digi-modify! Seed of strength!" Even as the data transferred to Guilmon's body, bulking him up slightly, Allen was ready with the second card, "Digi-modify! Hyper wing!" Allen sagged down the side of the building, as running two cards in sequence still took a lot out of him. Guilmon, however, was feeling fine as angel wings sprouted from his back, and he quickly snagged Allen with his front claws and flew him over around the building. Jessica and Hikari waved, but Crystalmon wasn't big enough to pull off the same feat, and Allen made a 'catch-up' gesture. 

  
  


Skullmeramon, meanwhile, on the ground, sensed a burst of power, following by something cold and dark in the area. When his partner came out, he asked, "Did you feel that?" The partner, counting yen notes, shrugged, and then checked his Digivice by reflex and cursed. "There's someone moving around, and this area's supposed to be on locked down. We need to see who it is, let's go!" Skullmeramon quickly followed. 

  
  


Hikari's partner, currently in Togemon form, heard the conversation on the roof and reported it. "Not good," she muttered. Jessica and Crystalmon somberly nodded their agreement. 

  
  


"Right. Skullmeramon might try and take out Allen if they learn that he was guarding the area near the school. This gang that my parents give Danegeld to got driven out by Piddomon and the Geckomon from that location," Jessica said. The group started running to the elevator. Guilmon should manage to deal with the Construct, but he wouldn't be able to deal with the hot head afterward.

  
  


Guilmon sat down near the school on the playground, which was cracked and battered after several days of beating back Constructs, and panted for a moment. The wings dissolved from his back, and Allen checked the D-Power. The seed of strength and the wings were off-line still, so they wouldn't be going in at full power. Allen switched over to the scanning screen, and grimaced at the hazy blob that showed on the screen. "This is weird, it should be here, but it's not. This is more like Gennai's construct." Allen and Guilmon sat down, ready to wait.

  
  


Skullmeramon and his partner trotted through the quiet morning streets. The Geckomon who were usually on duty in this section weren't out and about, not willing to match themselves against Skullmeramon's heat, strength, and notoriously short temper. Crystalmon, Tanemon, and their partners kept to alleyways. Apparently, the duo up ahead weren't checking their Digivice any more, and they were moving slow and cautiously, as this was enemy territory. "All right, time to see if these Digimon cards work as well as the modifies in real battle," whispered Jessica. "Ready to leave him frozen in his tracks, Crystalmon?" Crystalmon saluted clumsily with a front paw, despite being on all fours. "Digi-modify! Frigimon!" Jessica ran the champion's card through the slot, but nothing happened to Crystalmon beside a quick glow. Jessica shook the chill she got from using a card off quickly. Allen sweats, I get cold, I wonder why that is? she thought. Time for that later. Now, "Go Crystalmon!"

  
  


"Sub-zero ice punch!" roared the tiny dragon, rearing up to stand on her two legs and let loose a blast of cold energy. A section of flames on Skullmeramon's back went out for a moment. The Ultimate roared in pain as his body, usually slightly molten held together by his will, solidified temporarily. "Okay, now we run as fast as possible, right Jessica?" Jessica nodded and the four made a dash for an alley, ready to try and lose the big lug.

  
  


At that point, Allen's D-Power began to glow slightly, and at the same time, a black vortex opened up before him for a moment. Allen looked in astonishment, as fog, interlaced with black lightning emerged from the portal, which snapped shut behind the fog. Allen felt nausea rising just from being near the fog bank, before it was formed into data, and Guilmon was quivering. A shape began to coalesce from the mist, but something seemed wrong. The silhouette was clutching its head in pain with its hands and as soon as it got vocal cords, it began to roar. 

  
  


Allen tried to fight off the illness he was feeling, unsure if it was coming from Guilmon or himself, and held up the analyzer. "Um, apparently that's a Patamon," Allen shook the D-Power in frustration. Whatever that thing was, it was not a flying pig. The analyzer screen shut off for a moment, before resolving again. Allen cursed, "It digivolved! We're dealing with a Devimon now." Guilmon couldn't pale, but it looked like he wanted to, and Allen couldn't blame him. Devimon were among the most evil Digimon in existence, and were as strong in Ultimates in many respects, and this one seemed angry.

  
  


"Hikari, check the houses and get as much defense together as you can! Whatever's coming through feels down right dark!" Jessica yelled. Skullmeramon had found them via the Digivices, and was busy stomping after them, leaving molten asphalt patches in its wake, and there were very few water or ice based attacks that Jessica could call upon and keep running, and she hadn't brought them this morning. And Jessica wasn't sure she could run at even a half-decent pace if she called on an ultimate or Mega-level card.

  
  


Hikari snapped back, "I know!" Her partner had downshifted to Tanemon, and seemed to be inclined to stay there. Hikari closed her eyes for a minute and said, "I'm sorry. I've been feeling irritable all morning for some reason. I'll try and focus." 

  
  


Tanemon said, "She's like this when she had to exercise before lunch. I told her to eat that second bowl of cereal this morning!"

  
  


Hikari shook her head and said, "Can you cover me when I split off for a second?" Crystalmon nodded and Hikari took off to the left. Skullmeramon saw this and shot out a chain.

  
  


Crystalmon called, "Dragon fang!" and leapt forward, surrounded in a nimbus of light. Jessica took the opportunity to call upon an iron claw card, allowing Crystalmon's tiny front claws to tear through the soft metal making up Skullmeramon's skin. The damage was run over again in a second, but the claws did cause a lot of pain, ensuring Skullmeramon would chase after them. Crystalmon rushed back towards Jessica, and the two dashed off again. "Now all we have to do is keep US alive!" huffed the Rookie.

  
  


Allen took a step backward as the portal snapped open for a second again. A little more fog came out, and it condensed into a humanoid figure with black wings, just like the D-Power's picture. Devimon continued to hold his head in his hands, roaring in pain, and he seemed to be going through terrible torment. Black energy skittered over the body. "Find Digivice! Defend self if hurt! Destroy!" roared the demon Digimon almost unintelligibly. Devimon slammed a claw down, and the two took a step back as pebbles skittered past them.

  
  


"All right, Guilmon, ready for some support?" the viral Rookie nodded nervously, looking at the claw marks dug through the playground's blacktop. "Digi-modify! Heavy metal!" Guilmon's body turned to resemble solid steel, and the Digimon rushed forward to headbutt Devimon. The portal, meanwhile, cracked open for another second. "The cards! They're charging the Digivice's portal-crossing ability!" realized Allen. The thoughts connected with the previous openings he had seen. "Jessica's had to use some cards. I hope she and Hikari show up soon, I can't hold this on my own." 

  
  


Devimon nearly fell into the portal, but rebounded, even more angry. He swiped with his claws furiously. His attacks were wild, however, and even with Guilmon's mass increased by the card, he could dodge. Guilmon launched a Pyro Sphere thought to himself, I'm doing pretty good. This one is nowhere near as powerful as the legendary one. Heck, he's not as tough as that Woodmon we took out a little while ago. Now, if he'll just not use his attacks for a little while longer..

  
  


"Touch of Evil!" roared Devimon, launching a dark blast at Guilmon. This struck head on. Guilmon's armor saved his life as its defensive energies were nullified by the blast, leaving the remaining negative energy unable to destroy the Rookie. 

  
  


"Digi-modify! Seed of health!" Guilmon's eyes glowed with renewed purpose and he launched back up to his feet, launching another Pyro Sphere. This one caught Devimon full in the face, but the Construct didn't even scream despite having its eyes obscured. Guilmon leapt upon the demon's chest, hammering away with both claws, but was quickly tossed away to the side. "Guilmon!" yelled Allen, concerned, and reached for his cards in dismay. He had left the house in a hurry due to the distraction with the darkness spell, and didn't have a lot of recharge cards, and many of the modify cards were still off-line. Then the answer hit him! "Digi-modify! Angemon!" The D-Power beeped merrily to itself, which was pure music to Allen's ears.

  
  


Guilmon pulled himself to his feet once the program was uploaded. Allen was counting on him, and he could feel the tired determination from the boy matching his own. Guilmon collected the holy energies granted by the card into his hands. "Hand of Fate!" roared the rookie, launching the energy lance into the dark figure in front of him. 

  
  


The Construct wasn't designed to be able to handle pain inputs, like Meramon, and so only crumpled as much of his energy was taken out as the energy beam ground itself against his torso. Too soon, however, the energy drained off. Guilmon wasn't strong enough anymore to keep the beam up. Devimon slowly got back to his feet. Allen winced, I slowed it down, I just wish I'd be able to tell Jessica how to get through a portal to save everyone. Before Devimon could launch another attack, vines lashed around him.

  
  


"Allen!" yelled Hikari's voice. Allen twirled, feeling greatly exhausted by the use of the cards and still ill from Devimon's aura. Several Geckomon and a Tyrannomon were racing behind her along with their partners, as well as Palmon, who was gamely attempting to keep the demon secured. Sixty-seventy Rookies from people who lived in this area and been shielded by the group came with.

  
  


With a roar, Palmon's vines snapped off. Hikari rushed to Allen and said breathlessly, "Hi Allen! You're doing great, but a Skullmeramon's marching this way and Jessica can't hold it off forever. I've brought some more cards, use whatever you want to beat this guy!" The various humans nodded in agreement as the Digimon launched a round of attacks, holding Devimon off. Allen looked and saw Jessica come into view, and who, despite the nausea she was probably experiencing, simply nodded at Allen and turned back to keeping Crystalmon away from Metal Fire Balls.

  
  


Allen, despite his exhaustion, smiled back and examined the cards. Everyone came to help me out and Jessica, even if they're wondering about us, they know we're doing good work. Just like when Margaret was here. Her heart WAS in the right place, even if her mind was cloudy, and people respected her for taking the job position seriously. Now it's time to repay some of the trust. Allen quickly found the perfect card and held up his D-Power. There was no question if the card was a bit more energy than Allen had in Allen's mind at that point, only the knowledge that he would help everyone. The card began to crackle with energy, but Allen had closed his eyes and didn't notice.

  
  


"Digi-modify! Magnaangemon!" A rush of energy exploded from the D-Power's screen, enfolding Guilmon, instead of the usual card points appearing. Hikari, standing close, found her Digivice reacting to the energy level again, and Palmon went to the Togemon stage. 

  
  


Guilmon, however, soon found himself with a purple motorcycle helmet, and an energy saber on one arm and a beam shield on the other, as well as full strength. Guilmon roared once, sending approval radiating towards Allen, before igniting the blade. Devimon, realizing the end was near, yelled, "Touch of Evil!" but Guilmon held up the beam shield which easily absorbed the blast. Igniting the energy blade, Guilmon jumped into the air and cleaved Devimon straight through with Magnaangemon's power. The devil seemed to give a sigh of release before dissolving into a cloud of data, which the almost stable portal nearby opened for several seconds to suck up. 

  
  


Skullmeramon and his partner halted, as Skullmeramon loomed over the knocked down Crystalmon and Jessica. That little rookie he had been hearing about, had just taken out a Wild DEVIMON with one hit. Now, with the armor still attached to it, he and a bunch of others were coming up to Skullmeramon. "I'm so dead," whispered the human. It had been a chance to move up by acquiring some more territory, but now it would come to nought. 

  
  


Guilmon and Allen walked up to Jessica and Crystalmon, and picked them up, Hikari supporting the girl. "Leave, now," Allen said, "I'm sick of all the fighting going on for just petty territory and baubles. I could probably take you out, and grab our little group something, but I'd rather be in an area where I know I have friends and allies, rather than opportunists." Skullmeramon and his partner didn't hesitate, running out of there as fast as possible. Allen wiped the sweat, both nervous and exhaustion, from his forehead and then groaned, "Oh man, we STILL have classes this morning!" The group broke into relieved laughter. The threats were averted for now, and this area would have a little respite from human-spawned threats.

  
  


Speaking of threats, Lady Devimon hovered by the gate in the Digital World. It was very odd, she had sensed the dark energy yet woven through the portal, holding it slightly open with feelings of hatred and oppression, and powering the spell that could yet affect the Digidestined in the Real World occasionally when they were weak. Gennai had sent something through this portal, and it had emerged strengthened and converted to a viral form. "So, from our side, even the greatest of good falls, yet the other side continues to breathe life into the Digital World," she murmured. 

  
  


Demon's plans were not going extremely well. Several Digidestined had been found, but breaking them of the dark shells that held their crest powers in check was proving more difficult than anticipated. Demon would be glad for the good news. "Keep fighting, little children. You just help prepare for the greater darkness." With that, Lady Devimon flew off. Gennai had not returned to check on his golem's progress, perhaps fearing the gate's darkness. As such, their operation was still safe for a little while longer.

  
  


To be continued....

  
  


Jessica got a spotlight, so Allen does. Allen and Jessica may be the impetus of a change in how the Real World treats Digimon as tools for money and weaponry. Next time we'll see the effects of such an obvious card-slash where everyone saw the power involved. It's not just a rumor floating around the school now. 

  
  


And now, a small omake, inspired by a few paragraphs and watching too much Tamers as prep for this story;

  
  


"Who knows what could come through?" said Gennai ominously, looking at the portal, which crackled slightly with darkness. Suddenly, it sprang wide open, and Gennai prepped himself to a battle stance. An object could be seen, quickly stepping out.

  
  


"Hi there! Want to play, culu?" It was small, it was white, it had ears that had an amazing number of folds. The Mega and the Guardian looked in shock as the small Digimon hopped around for a moment.

  
  


"I can't see Takato or anyone around here either, so I guess I'll be going. Nice meeting you, culu!" The Digimon hopped back in the portal, which closed shut behind it. For a moment, the two merely stared in shock at where the odd creature had been.

  
  


"You didn't see anything, right? I didn't see anything," rumbled the Mega. Rather jerkily, Gennai nodded.

  
  


The two never spoke of the Digimon again.

  
  


***************************


	5. The Train Ride

Crystal Tamers

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Growlmon's Big Train Ride or

Gift of the Demon Dragon

  
  


****************************

  
  


Any discussion on the growth of Digimon has to include the Mega stage. Any Mega practically has the power of a god, to create or destroy to a large degree. The four Dark Masters pooled their power to literally rebuild the Digital World to suit their own twisted desires. The Four Legendary Holy Beasts, whose existence is the closest thing the Digital World has to belief in gods, are apparently Megas. This stage of digivolution is one step beyond that which Digimon naturally achieve, in the aptly called 'Ultimate' or 'fully digivolved' stage. The energy required to go to Mega is apparently something that Digimon cannot normally acquire within their lifetimes, and even the original Digidestined only managed it by combining the powers of two angel Digimon and four crests with the powers of their two strongest members. The best advice if you see a Mega is that you hope its on your side. The best advice is you RAISE a Mega is brace yourself. The Digital World obviously needs you for something.

  
  


- excerpt from Chapter 4: "Furthur Digivolving" from Care and Feeding of Digital Partners, Second Edition, Jyou 'Joe' Kido

  
  


**************************

  
  


Senior Detective Ken Ichijouji, hair going grey, which made him look even more respectable; looked around the playground in Odaiba ward. The Digidestined, except for Ken, who lived a distance away, had gone to school on this site, though the building (but for a memorial plaque) had been replaced twenty years ago. There had been many rumors of the week of new Digivices making their appearance, and super-powerful Rookies. The school was closed, it was Saturday afternoon, and children were taking advantage of it. 

  
  


The people living around the school were merely thankful for the extra protection and had filed no reports. They were thankful since it kept them out of the grips of those who held the rest of the area, who demanded hefty protective fees and had been charged several times at inciting violence. 

  
  


Ken ground his teeth at that. Everyone having Digimon meant small spaces were a problem, and some people seemed to have gotten infected with the need for territory until the watch program had been legalized. Some people were just and good, but they usually got steam rolled by other's greed. And all the Digidestined hadn't agreed on the issue, so they hadn't made any public statements.

  
  


However, one of the 'collection officers' for the local tongs had filed a complaint report about coming under an attack. Apparently some member of the Agumon family had ended up attacking him with a gate of destiny. Ken had seen the gate of destiny in action, and the school wouldn't have been standing if the attack had been used. Still, the reports of rookies using bizarre powers for their level and type fit well with everything else coming out of Odaiba lately. Combined with mysterious disappearances, Ken had decided to make a follow-up into the area, and had discovered there had been a bizarre amount of Digivolution happening recently, along with an Agumon transforming into something that wasn't on any of the analyzer programs. Suddenly Digimon cards had picked up a great deal of value, as two rookies, sometimes abetted by a Champion, had been wiping out bizarre pseudo-Digimon for a while now. 

  
  


Stingmon floated down by Ken. "There's definitely been a lot of gate activity in this area. The scent of data is far stronger than usual." 

  
  


Ken looked around, "What about powers involved?" 

  
  


Stingmon looked embarrassed, "You may want to find a Wizardmon for that, but there has been a lot of energies used, and technology isn't very good at identifying attacks from beside broad categories. Off hand, darkness-inspired, poisoning, fire, ice, energy, and holy attacks have been used." Ken gave a whistle. This place was a war zone. 

  
  


Ken sighed, "Well, something's up, and not many people here are willing to talk to us. They're afraid of killing the Golden Goose and coming under the sway of the gangs. Besides, with kids hero worship might get me some answers, but legally, I would have to fine them for attacking Skullmeramon, who was in his rights."

  
  


"What are you going to do, Ken?" asked the champion.

  
  


Ken smiled softly, "Easy. Gennai hasn't been any help recently, as he's busy trying to track down the disappearances, besides working on some program against when the next evil threat rises, as he doesn't have the staff who made the crests the last time. Besides, some of the rumors match a man facing Gennai's current description with a monster who came out of a fog bank, just like the Devimon who was apparently here a few hours ago. I think it's time to call in a higher level of government." Ken pulled out a cellular phone and dialed a number.

  
  


"Hello? Yes, this is Ambassador Kamiya's office," said a secretary in the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, "Oh! Mr. Ichijouji! I'm sorry, he's out of town for the weekend at his estate. Yes, I can get you his number," the secretary rattled off a list of numbers. "Have a good day, sir!"

  
  


Ken nodded, "Well, let's hope this works. Tai's usually in a good mood when he gets to get away from all the problems of both worlds. I hope he doesn't mind something spoiling his time." Ken quickly reached Tai and explained a plan. Tai was intrigued by some of things suggested, and knew that bizarre new Digivices usually meant something was up, and quickly agreed.

  
  


"In fact, I should have done this earlier. An old friend of mine stopped by the office yesterday to pump for information," Tai said, "It'll be good to meet those whom that egg speaks so highly of."

  
  


*********************

"Hello? Yes, this is the Silphius residence," said Jessica's mother. After a few moments, Jessica was called over to the phone from where she had been slumped bonelessly on the couch, watching the news. Card slashing plus nearly getting stepped on had worn her and Crystalmon out, and right now they were just sending lazy vibes at each other as they recuperated.

  
  


A deep male voice was on the line as Jessica picked up the extension. "Jessica Silphius?" it said.

"Yes?" Jessica said cautiously. She had enough weirdness leaping out her for the last few weeks, and even Digitamamon's sources had started to run dry with not a bit of information for his valiant efforts. 

  
  


"This is Digital World Ambassador Taichi Kamiya. I've heard interesting rumors about various events happening in Odaiba recently, and I was wondering if you'd like to chat with me up at my home for a few hours tomorrow. You should be receiving some passes for the trains in that area electronically shortly."

  
  


Jessica was gaping, but managed to ask, "What about my friends?" 

  
  


Tai laughed, "Oh, right. Don't worry, I'm extending invitations to them as well. Do you accept?"

  
  


Jessica frowned. She had to do this. "Hang on, let me ask my parents," she said, before yelling, "Mom! Is it okay if I meet with an old Digidestined up in - Um, Mr. Kamiya, where are you again?" 

  
  


"Kyoto," Tai seemed amused.

  
  


"Kyoto? Probably early in the morning to night?" echoed Jessica to her mother.

  
  


Her mom popped her head out of the kitchen, "Who else is going?" she asked sweetly.

  
  


She's humoring me, thought Jessica. "Probably Hikari and Allen, from school," she replied.

  
  


"All right then, just be back before ten," said her mother. The doctor said we needed to humor her as long as it wasn't dangerous, and I'll ask their parents about it later, thought Mrs. Silphius. Still, Digitamamon seems to have been caught up in it, so it can't be all bad. 

  
  


Jessica hashed a few more specifics out on the phone, and grabbed the tickets when they were printed out by the phone. (Author's Note: Gotta love mid-twenty first century-technology/ plot devices!) She quickly grabbed Crystalmon, who yelped, as she was still a little sore, and ran into her room. Evidently, her mother noted, Jessica hadn't had as rough a day at school as her mother thought, judging by the excited squeals coming from behind the closed doors.

  
  


*************************

  
  


Demon was still playing with his orb when Lady Devimon came to report, "We seem to have acquired our nine Digidestined, as they withstood the Fire Wall successfully, but they are, as yet, unable to access their Crests, my Lord," she said with head bowed.

  
  


Demon tapped the ball a few more times on his desk before setting it aside. He would crack its secrets eventually. "This is not wholly unexpected, though still unfortunate. Within them rests the potential for great power, which they managed to use against the Wall, but we had them trapped too tightly for too long. I assume they are still dark digivolving?" Lady Devimon nodded. Demon sighed, "Curses. We need them to see the truth of things and rely on themselves. I doubt keeping them hear near the Wall of Flames is helping measures." Demon pondered for a moment, "Alert your two compatriots. I'll need you to maintain the spell of darkness to keep the two on their toes, but SkullSatomon and MarineDevimon should be able to begin training them. Plus, anything that keeps those two occupied can only keep us concealed longer. We'll keep the other children around for now if one turns out to be a dud," Lady Devimon bowed and left. 

  
  


Demon frowned when his underling had left and looked at the orb in frustration. He had stumbled upon the device in the Dark Ocean, wresting it free of the undersea master in a glorious battle. Demon kept the master alive mainly because he had been working off so much stress for being trapped in the Dark Ocean by Imperialdramon. The dark seeds would have granted him great power, but all that idiot Myotismon could think of was plunge the world into darkness. And once he had succeeded, he got fried by the Digidestined. Typical narrow, short-sighted thinking on that Digimon's part. 

  
  


But back to the orb, thought Demon, thoughts of idiotic former adversaries can wait. The orb was the key, according to the texts he had found here in Infinity Mountain, to unlocking the power of the crests and reviving the Digital World. Demon had been hoping to use the dark spore as a substitute, but the Digidestined had inadvertently let him find his treasure. Now if he could just get it working. 

  
  


"Two crests remain beyond me, but they're also the two that work. They should have arrived here by now, and it's obvious that my Constructs are insufficient to activate their digivolutions. I need all the children here, because of the possibility I may have a Digidestined-dud, and I don't have the troops to get them killed activating powers that will, at first, be used against me," Demon pondered for several minutes, and then thought back to the gate. "Of course! Some humans are far more power hungry than even I! The gate is connected to the spell binding the two Digidestined. I send dark energy through the gate, and it will find its way to someone in their area. A simple promise of power to a fool, in exchange for some champions." Demon left his desk. He had unholy rituals to perform, and a renewed sense of purpose. 

"Jessica, Hikari! How are you doing!" Allen yelled. He and Guilmon had made it to the train station relatively easily. Train stations were neutral territory, due to the needs for mass transit in Tokyo, and locals weren't ready to go after Guilmon after yesterday. The Tyrannomon that had recently digivolved and had helped out yesterday had agreed with its partner to guard the area.

  
  


Jessica waved as Allen came over, and said, "This is really great! We get to meet a Digidestined. I can't believe your parents are letting you take an hour's ride to Kyoto by yourselves." 

  
  


Allen said in an amused tone, "Well, they weren't, but when they called your mother and said that she was letting you go, and everyone knows how protective they are of you, they figured it had to be safe." 

  
  


Jessica said contemplatively, "Well, what do you know, there are compensations for your parents thinking you're going crazy."

  
  


"Going crazy?" asked Crystalmon, "You've been hearing voices with no source, doesn't that qualify?" 

  
  


"Not when other people hear them, too, Crystalmon," said Jessica with a trace of a smile. 

  
  


Hikari looked at the train with approval, "Well at least we get to take the car set for larger Digimon, because poor Palmon's going all over the place with her digivolution level. I've heard the view is a lot better." Palmon perked up a little. The uncontrolled digivolving had made things stressful for the two of them. Allen turned his head to hide a smile. 

  
  


Hikari was possibly the only person in school who envied their D-Powers. While they got the digi-modify ability, the Digivices hadn't done any digivolving yet, despite facing Champions. Hikari would LOVE to not have to deal with random digivolving and de-digivolving. For that matter, Hikari didn't think the extra-strength bond with their partners that Allen and Jessica had was a liability, as in battle they did feel a bit of the pain that happened to their rookies. But battles happened so rarely, and Hikari would really like to get to know the Digimon who had been with her since birth even better.

  
  


A train quickly arrived. The two would have to change trains again to get to Kyoto, and then take another train to where Tai's house was, up in the mountains. Allen looked around with interest. He could see a few Tyrannomon, a Woodmon, and a Shellmon on the platform as well. People looked at them askance for not having Champions at first on the covered double-height car that was the large Digimon section, but Palmon suddenly fluxing to Togemon stilled the glances. 

  
  


Togemon sighed and sat down, "I really, really hate this. My energy levels are all over the place as well. I wish that the turbo-boost you gave Hikari's Digivice had an off button. It's hard to work out when one minute you're at full strength and twenty-feet high and the next minute you can barely move and you're a four-legged head." 

  
  


Poor Togemon, thought Jessica, I wish I could do something, but people know more about why digivolving works rather than how it works. Allen tapped her shoulder, handing over a card. Jessica smiled, Perfect.

  
  


"Here, Togemon. This is something you can use to boost your energy that should match whatever state you're in," said Jessica as she pulled her D-Power off her wrist and held it in front of her. The cactus perked up at that as Jessica ran the card through the slot. "Digi-modify! Training grips!" Crystalmon looked at the giant rubber bands that had appeared on her fore claws with confusion. "Those are Togemon's, Crystalmon!" The dragon nodded her understanding as she quickly untangled herself and handed the straps over to Togemon, who stuck them behind her head, and bowed her thanks. "Those should last for at least twenty minutes or so, and you can get some training in without bothering anybody." 

  
  


The two reached the main platform to go to Kyoto without anything else happening but for Togemon becoming Tanemon, and not even Hikari could hold back her laugh at the sight of her tiny companion wrapped twice around with the grips and its root-feet straining to hold the grips apart. 

  
  


Jessica felt a slight chill, but she assumed it was merely the result of the card-slash when she got on the train that would take them to Kyoto. She didn't know Demon had managed to open a Digital Gate over Odaiba and launched the spell through. It hovered like a dark mist over the area for a moment, before speeding off in the direction of the trio, and quickly moving ahead of them, searching the area around the Kyoto train station for a likely victim. 

  
  


The mist soon found a chance. An older teenager was looking at one of the shrine's with a large dragon on it. Next to him was a large green dinosaur champion with red and black striped tusks. The trainer sighed, "There's supposed to be ways to digivolve to Ultimate, but I'm not sure what they are. Wouldn't it be cool to fly, Tuskmon!" 

  
  


Tuskmon said, "Well, I can jump pretty high..." 

  
  


"But it's not flying, is it?" said a voice, from the shadows around the dragon statue. "Come now, people far younger than you can get to the ultimate digivolution, and I can offer you something that will help make up the gap, as you seem worthy." A flash of light exploded from the dragon's mouth, and a black ball floated out over to the teenager. "This will increase Tuskmon's strength greatly. If you want the power of ultimate, then I need you to prove yourself first and defend Kyoto. There are three very special Digimon riding a train from Tokyo with human partners. One will be some sort of plant, but the others will be larger than normal for rookies. They utilize forbidden ancient digivolution techniques. If you can defeat them, I believe I can gain energy from them that will allow you to digivolve." 

  
  


The boy was entranced by the sphere fascinated by such power in a tiny orb, "Of course I'll do it. How do I turn this thing on?" 

  
  


The dragon laughed lightly, "Place it on Tuskmon's forehead. But be careful! I am weakened with age and I can only keep the power flow for a short time." 

  
  


The teenager nodded, "Right! Let's go Tuskmon. We have to save the city!" The boy jumped onto Tuskmon's back and rode on his head, the two trotting down the street towards the station.

  
  


Demon sounded incredibly pleased with himself, "Well, a story put together under a minute and he bought it, hook, line, and sinker. Demon, you old fox, you certainly can pick them." Demon watched from within the black orb on Tuskmon's forehead. This would be interesting. Demon idly tapped on his desk and waited. 

  
  


About fifteen minutes later, the train came to a rest in Kyoto. Hikari was looking at a map, Tanemon sitting on her head as the young girl searched the complicated lines for their destination. "Okay, these bus passes should get us about five minutes away, but we will have to pay a toll on the bus." Jessica shook her head, but forebore to comment. There were priorities on helping the Earth, but she did have friends in trouble, and if anyone could help on Earth, it would be a Digidestined, a real Digidestined from fifty years ago, not today's cheap copies. 

  
  


Allen looked at the platform in surprise. It was busier than he expected, but then again, it was a Saturday. He saw a lot of rookies, and a few champions in the area. The biggest one was a friendly-looking Tuskmon with and a person on top holding some sort of bowling ball. The person seemed to notice Allen's gaze and stood up and pointed.

  
  


"I am Tuskmon! Forbidden ones, you are mine!" roared the dinosaur Digimon in response. 

  
  


Probably a big mistake. Several people held out their Digivices and digivolved up to champion. One shouted, "This area is under our protection! How dare you disturb the sanctity of the truce area!" The boy, well, young man really slammed the bowling ball into Tuskmon's forehead.

  
  


"Tusk Buster!" roared the dinosaur, shooting red beams of energy from his horns as each champion tried to get close. Each one that was hit flew the air, reverting to Rookie. A Greymon roared and fired a Nova blast, but Tuskmon crossed his arms before his face and the attack boiled off uselessly. Rushing to the orange dinosaur, Tuskmon picked the Greymon up and tossed it into the street. Everyone started to clear out as Tuskmon stomped forward. 

  
  


"Jessica, Hikari! Get out of here and find help!" The two started to protest, but Allen explained, "This isn't some wimpy construct, this is one tough Champion, and in-training Digimon are no match. And Jessica, neither your or Crystalmon are recovered from the fight." Jessica brushed hair out of her eyes and stared at Allen for a moment, and decided he probably wouldn't change his mind.

  
  


"Here! Take this recharge and Metalgreymon cards. They may come in handy," Jessica said. Hikari passed over her Magnaangemon card and a Brave Shield card. Allen nodded her thanks. These were probably the best they were carrying, and if Allen got in trouble, Jessica was leaving herself at a disadvantage. The two started to run off to find cover for the time being.

  
  


"All right! Digi-modify! Heavy metal!" Guilmon's body transformed to steel and Guilmon started running forward. Tuskmon smiled and lowered his head, accepting the challenge. Allen smirked, Tuskmon, despite those nasty pointed things on his head, was right where Guilmon and Allen wanted them. "Digi-modfiy! Seed of strength!" Guilmon held out his hands as the two came to a devastating close with each other, and Guilmon managed to actually hold onto Tuskmon's tusks before actually pushing the Digimon back several feet.

  
  


"Pyro sphere!" roared Guilmon, firing a bolt of flame which exploded against Tuskmon's head. Tuskmon shook it off and charged, this time getting past Guilmon's guard and knocking the metal-enhanced dinosaur back several feet with a clang. 

  
  


Jessica called from hiding, "Allen! I know you're too busy to sense, but there's a lot of dark energy flowing from that bowling ball." 

  
  


"Got it! Guilmon! Digi-modify! Metalgreymon!" Guilmon held his hands over his head and a giant missile appeared in them, coalescing from data. Guilmon ran forward and heaved the Giga Blaster like a javelin, exploding it against Tuskmon's forehead. Guilmon smiled as the head was covered in smoke, but then Tuskmon launched his Tusk Buster from it. Guilmon slammed backwards, the armor wearing off and leaving Guilmon barely able to move from the energy blast.

  
  


"Digi-modify! Recharge!" Allen shouted, and felt the world almost explode into fire. His endurance was up after a lot of card-slashes to this wasn't a problem, especially with the extra energy he had untapped yesterday, but he was doing it too fast, as if there was a limit he was hitting. Guilmon managed to get up, and launched a pyro sphere at the ball. This time, Guilmon hit dead on and cracked it slightly. Tuskmon roared as he felt his energy drain. Allen closed his eyes, "I have to win this for everyone. I'm the only one who can fight right now. I have to keep going, no matter what it takes from me!"

  
  


"Are you sure?" came a voice from deep inside him. Allen's eyes widened in surprise. It sounded like the voice that he had spoken too right afterwards Guilmon was created from Agumon. 

  
  


"Yes. If I don't keep fighting, I'll never save Margaret and everyone else, and we'll all get trampled on. Jessica was willing to give up a lot of her strength that she could have used to let Crystalmon fight temporarily. I don't care if I'll get a fever. I'm going to swipe the Magnaangemon card!" Suddenly, with a flare of blue light around him, Allen's fever broke fast enough to give him chills, and acting almost on instinct, he pulled a card from his pocket.

  
  


The words came naturally enough: "Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!" The D-Power hummed with energy, and it was all Allen could do to stay upright as he felt the power go towards Guilmon.

  
  


A female mechanical voice from within the D-Power stated, "Digivolution." Jessica and Hikari watched in awe as a series of red rings flew out of the screen of the D-Power, binding together into a an egg shape around Guilmon. "Guilmon, digivolve to!" Energy crackled and the two nearly screamed in astonishment as Guilmon seemed to be coming apart, leaving only a wireframe that blurred quickly into a much larger shape. The rings moved to match as Guilmon seemed to pull himself together as his skin returned, making him look organic again. He was MUCH larger, though with similar coloration and white hair. Blades were ready at his elbows. "Growlmon!" 

  
  


"Get the orb!" Allen whispered. He felt tired, but not nearly as feverish as he had before, and could feel Growlmon's elation at the pounding rush of energy. Tuskmon launched another blast, but Growlmon jumped over it.

  
  


"Dragon slash!" roared Growlmon, and the blades on his elbows were energized as he swiped at the orb. Tuskmon went stumbling backwards, and the teenager on the dinosaur's back jumped off in panic. The orb's outer surface cracked off. Growlmon took a deep breath, and flame started to lick around his mouth, "Pyro blaster!" roared the dinosaur, letting loose a giant column of flame at Tuskmon. Tuskmon groaned, but a high-pitched cracking noise announced the death of the orb. Growlmon ceased the torrent, waiting to see what happened.

Tuskmon blinked, "What happened? Last thing I knew, I was at the dragon statue!" The boy nearby nodded, and Tuskmon bowed in gratitude, "Thank you for saving us." Growlmon waved a claw, and the two trotted off.

  
  


Growlmon went over to Allen, who reached up a trembling hand, "You did great Growlmon," he whispered, "I just need to sleep for a little while." Jessica and Hikari ran out of hiding, going over to check on the Tamer.

  
  


"He'll be all right," said Jessica with relief, "he's just worn out from the stress and everything. You did really good Growlmon."

  
  


Growlmon actually blushed, "It was all that training I've been getting recently," claimed the Digimon, "That and Allen transferred a lot of his energy to me. You're sure he'll be fine?" asked the massive champion plaintively. 

  
  


Hikari nodded, "He's fine. Now, be a good boy and dedigivolve so we can get our bus." 

  
  


"How?" asked Growlmon innocently, "I felt my pattern shift up while digivolving, I'm not sure I can just dump the energy."

  
  


Jessica and Hikari exchanged a look, "Oh boy," they said at the same time.

  
  


Demon, meanwhile, shuddered slightly when the mental link to the globe was broken, but that was nowhere near the massive joy he felt. Things couldn't have gone better if he'd actually been pulling strings himself.

  
  


To be continued.

  
  


Author's Notes: Well, there's Growlmon. Why is he going to be stuck at this level for a while? Notice that unlike Tamers, these kids aren't bothered by watching their Champions take the opposition out quick and painfully, since they've been seeing Digimon battle most of their lives.

  
  


I've decided to keep the long-term champion digivolves. Explaining it in Adventure's storyline should be interesting.

  
  


So much for those bus passes... 

  
  


And the Digidestined are still alive, at least some of them, just feeling rather old.

  
  


Demon's dangerous because, among all the other toys and the Digidestined he's captured and turning to the surface, he doesn't know the meaning of the word 'collateral damage' and can open and close gates at will. 

  
  


This was the least relevant opening quote of all. I had already done a champion digivolve one, so I did one saying Demon is god-awful powerful, basically. 

  
  


Next episode: The Volcano of Wargreymon!

  
  


Tai talks and interrogates the kids, and gives them some pointers. Demon continues to try and manipulate his plans as things go the same for the otherwise. Plus: Demon just might get that orb + stalagmite-like stand to work... (Brownie points to anyone who figures it out).


	6. Volcano of Metalgreymon!

Crystal Tamers

  
  


by Tremor3258 

  
  


Volcano of Metalgreymon!

  
  


Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon. sigh

  
  


****************************

  
  


Kamiya, Taichi - Known as 'Tai' to his close friends, Mr. Kamiya was the leader of the very first group of modern Digidestined, and has possibly the single most experienced Digimon partnered with a human. His exploits include helping prevent Myotismon from destroying Odaiba (twice) and conquering both worlds, restructuring the Digital World from its Spiral Mountain form (and defeating the Apoclypmon 'recycling program' released with the destruction of Spiral Mountain). He later helped defeat a rogue net-born Digimon, and performed the only DNA-Digivolution without the aid of his younger sister's partner, Gatomon's, powers. He later served as spiritual advisor to the second group of Japanese Digidestined, including Demon's invasion and the Malomyotismon crisis. 

  
  


Mr. Kamiya went through school and studied law, and he served in business for several years before being appointed by Japan as the ambassador to the Digital World on the basis of his extensive knowledge of its inhabitants, and the fact that Japan wished to play on the fact many of said inhabitants feel they owe their lives to him. Later, the UN appointed Kamiya as the ambassador of the world to the Digital World, a post he has filled with distinction until the present day.

  
  


Special warning note: In this era of Digimon, it should be noted that Mr. Kamiya is one of only two people whose partner bond possesses sufficient strength to raise to Mega on their own. Considering the fact that Megas could take on entire armies and live, Mr. Kamiya's well-being is of great importance and constant interest to several world governments. 

  
  


Synopsis of CIA Information File on Taichi Kamiya

  
  


***************************

  
  


"Not here again!" said Allen in anguish. He was back in his mind, as it were, but it seemed someone had been installing air conditioning. The flames were back a ways, and Allen could see a tag lying just out of reach in the fire. "Shoot, that would come in handy." Allen felt mild amusement radiating off something behind him, as well as more complex emotions coming from around him. 

  
  


"Indeed it would, but you've already begun to tap its power," stated the older voice. "Congratulations on your accomplishment. You've increased your bond and digivolved your partner. You've reached into a great deal of power, and are continuing to use it correctly. I couldn't be prouder."

  
  


"The Crest of Friendship, I presume?" said Allen, "Would it be too much to ask what you're doing? Or, for that matter, why the changes going on?" 

  
  


"Um," the voice sounded embarrassed, "I wish I knew. I'm just an energy source, based off of a portion of the Digital World's stabilizing program. Any personality I have is a reflection of your virtues. I just know that you called on power to light the darkness around you. I don't know why Agumon transformed to a more powerful state or what happened to your Digivice. Oh, by the way, if you want to try for the tag, you'd better hurry. I think you're about to wake up." Allen hesitated for a second, and then jumped for the tag, but as he approached the fire, everything vanished to black before he opened his eyes to see a concerned looking Jessica, Hikari and Crystalmon looking at him.

  
  


"You know, all I needed was a few more seconds, and I could have grabbed a mental version of my tag," groused Allen. He paused, there faces were rocking slightly, and it took Allen a second to realize he was as well. "Are we on Togemon?" he asked.

  
  


Jessica said loudly, over Hikari's insistent, 'You get TAGS too?', "No, we're not on Togemon. We're taking advantage of your Digimon," she said. Allen looked apologetic at Hikari for moment, who seemed to be a little miffed, and looked down.

  
  


The four were riding on a broad red back with black stripes. Allen looked up and saw a massive head with lots of teeth, topped with grey hair. A tail stretched out behind. Togemon trotted alongside. Allen felt surprise and concern, along with pride, radiate off it. "Hi Allen! Glad you're up! I'm Growlmon, Guilmon's champion digivolution. My pyro blaster attacks make pyro sphere look like a candle, and my dragon slash makes Crystalmon's dragon fang look like a butterknife!"

  
  


"Hey!" said the Rookie dragon indignantly, "You probably wouldn't have digivolved if I had been in shape to battle. Besides, we're trying to take steps to avoid battles, which is why we're on the back routes, remember?"

  
  


Hikari shrugged, "He just probably wants to stretch a little since digivolving, and I can't blame him for wanting to show off. Still, considering that data and vaccine Digimon are usually peaceful, why do we keep ending up fighting so much lately?" Hikari sighed and looked at her partner. Togemon were definitely one of the more fight-ready Digimon, but even they usually left well enough alone. Very rarely did Digimon fight to the death prior to the involvement of the Digidestined, but the threat then had been severe enough to require reformatting various Digimon. Hikari hoped that she and her friends weren't headed to have to do something like that.

  
  


"Hopefully we'll get some answers when we arrive, Hikari," consoled Jessica. The group was silent for a while as Growlmon trotted along with various cars and trucks as the group made their way up out of the city and towards the hills north of Kyoto. 

  
  


*******************************

  
  


Angie Misamaru lay on the cot in the cold building and tried not to shiver. This place was a study in contrasts. People had come in, and the only thing that stopped constant fighting was Skulsatomon showing what his Nail Bone could do. Angie had felt like that when she came in, but one glance at her D-3, which seemed stained with black, had startled her out of it. No one who spent time around Jessica, she of the walking Digi-database, without knowing about black D-3s. Angie wondered what had happened on the playground. One minute, I was trying to help, the next minute I'm here...

  
  


Then people had been led, somewhat in a trance, out of the barracks and had never come back. Biyomon had been willing to try and get out, but she hadn't been able to access a digivolution in here. Then, a few people had started to come back, and they were in major guilt trips, as if aware of how they were acting, before they started digivolution training. "What's odd is, I was like that once I got here. Biyomon, I think we're going to have to try and get selected for getting tested. It may be the only way out of here." Biyomon nodded her agreement. The way to purge the dark power, evidently, was to get walked out by one of the demons, and she still felt it lurking inside her. 

  
  


"Good news everyone! Your survival rates have just gone way up!" announced a cheerful Skullsatomon over a P.A. system. "We think we've found all the candidates we need for now, so just stay like good little zombies for the time being!" 

  
  


"So much for that idea," said Biyomon, pouting. 

  
  


Angie shook her head, "Nah. Jessica may be more the planning type, but I've got the tactical edge. They figure no one is going to try and get out, since some people haven't moved since we got here. Let's go hang around by the entrance." The pink bird followed her partner off the cot and made their way to the heavy black stone door. Biyomon looked at it distrustfully. It seemed to soak up light, though it was warm, and Biyomon was certain neither world had such a stone. 

  
  


Skullsatomon, however, had moved away from the door, and seemed to be talking animatedly to a Lady Devimon. After a moment, she slapped him and stomped off. Skullsatomon ran afterword. "Now's as good a chance as any, let's go!" The two started running, but Angie stopped when she saw the giant pillar of flame as she moved away from the barracks. "Whoa, what's that?" 

  
  


Biyomon gasped as she saw something out of the Digital World's horror stories, "That's the Wall of Fire. It's one of the containment programs against the Dark Ocean. It's supposed to have a purifying effect."

  
  


"Let's see. People dark digivolving, and then they disappear, and come back realizing what they've done, while more people leave. Let's get close, Biyomon! I bet the demon digimon can't get close to it, and we can see if we can see and exit from there." Biyomon agreed, and the two trotted closer. Biyomon looked behind her when she noticed Angie was no longer with her, she seemed to be in pain. "Angie!"

  
  


"I'm fine," her partner said, "Healing occasionally involves pain! Look!" The D-3's stains were leaving, leaving it a shimmering pink and white. "If this thing is so powerful, maybe we can use the D-3 to locate a portal." Biyomon nodded. She was fine with the light, and Angie felt hotter just getting closer. She continued on though, trying to ignore the heat until her D-3 started to shimmer with sudden power, glowing more and more brilliant.

  
  


Demon jumped away from his desk in astonishment as the orb and stand combination began to glow brilliantly. However, even that light was no match for the sudden darkness behind him, and Demon found something twisting at his insides. Demon twisted to see the Firewall was down, leaving only a gaping void into blackness, a sinkhole into the area where Digimon go to be reformatted before rebirth at Primary Village. Acting in a fear-filled haze, Demon held the brilliantly shining object from his desk in front of him. After a moment, the Firewall restarted.. 

  
  


It took a few moments for Demon to recover, though most of the other Digimon were gasping as they lay wherever they had fallen when the Firewall went out. Demon shuddered., and he knew every other being in the dimension shuddered with him. The entire Digital World had come very close to suddenly being wiped out. "The situation is more desperate than I believed if they drain at the barrier between worlds. We cannot stay here, as surely they will come to check on the situation! Lady Devimon, begin the evacuation at once!" Demon roared. He turned and began to cast a spell. It would drain his energy greatly, but it would help keep attention focused off them when they were moving to the secondary base. A new Construct began to form.

  
  


*********************

  
  


Growlmon trotted along the road merrily. Traffic had thinned out, though there was a Veedramon up ahead of him, and he was still feeling rather strong. I doubt my very first evolution would be a natural one, thought Growlmon, so what's up? In Growlmon's experience, Digimon took years to gain enough energy to maintain a champion level, and most of the partnered ones could turn it off if need be. Growlmon wondered if the 'off-switch' was a discipline thing he was missing. Not that it mattered too much to Growlmon. In the old days, having a champion all the time would be problematic, but a lot of stuff was built to larger-scale Digimon now days. Besides, Growlmon had once reached the Greymon stage when Allen was still walled in, so he was rather used to being able to see things from so high. 

  
  


Growlmon's thoughts were cut off by a rending scream that went through his head, matched by the roars from his own mouth and his passengers. The group collapsed. Through tear-soaked eyes, Growlmon noticed that Veedramon was merely staggered. "Construct?" moaned Growlmon. This was worse than any ice cream headache.

  
  


"If it is, it's REALLY, really big," moaned Jessica. Growlmon had noticed she was better at the sensing thing than Allen was. It was probably related to her powers. Togemon and Hikari seemed to be suffering merely from headaches, but Crystalmon and Jessica were slumped over, holding their heads in pain. Togemon had dropped down to Tanemon again. Allen was worse off, curled into a ball and whimpering. Oh no! thought Guilmon, I've got better senses as a champion, and he can feel my pain as well. Still, Allen didn't look like he was about to die. Cars went off the road in confusion as Digimon passengers suffered, or they swerved to dodge the two downed champions. Growlmon wondered why no one was stopping to either yell or help. They seemed in a pretty bad mood. Growlmon slowly got to his feet, head still ringing, only to collapse as ANOTHER bolt of pain struck him mentally. This one, though, felt more like the regular nausea, though it was quite strong and close.

  
  


"Dark shot!" roared a voice from the next curve on the road, and a fireball rolled into view along with the sound of an explosion. Painfully, Growlmon raised his head to look, and watched a huge Digimon stomp into view ahead of them.. It looked like it had walked out of a museum display, as it was a massive skeletal dinosaur, blackness throbbing in its rib cage instead of a heart and a huge missile on its back. Laughing, the monster picked up the Veedramon and chewed it down, chuckling sadistically as the blue Dragon-Man Digimon was reduced to data. 

  
  


Jessica raised her hand shakily and activated the analyzer. "Okay, this is Skullgreymon. He's a viral ultimate undead Digimon, and we should probably be running about now, even if he is a construct, Skullgreymon are really powerful!" Jessica tried to get to her feet, but her legs refused to support her. 

Skullgreymon looked at the group for a minute, and then sniffed several times. "Food!" roared the undead dinosaur gleefully, before stomping forward. 

  
  


"Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon whispered, but he couldn't even get a cloud of smoke out. Suddenly, two massive explosions obscured the skeleton for a moment, and when the smoke cleared, several ribs had been cracked and the black void resting inside Skullgreymon's rib cage had started to leak out. Wheezing for breath, Skullgreymon pressed one massive claw there, and then started to run away in the direction of the mountains.

  
  


"Sorry Tai!" rumbled a deep, slightly metallic voice, "Whatever just hit meant my giga blaster wasn't at full power!" The group looked up the hill to see a massive orange dinosaur, with armor over its chest, head, and left arm. Sitting on top of its head was a well-trimmed man, hair coming in grey, wearing a sweatsuit. 

  
  


"Don't worry about it Metalgreymon. You drove him off, and he won't think of attacking inhabited areas for a while. You'll probably recover your strength faster than he can heal," consoled the man, before shouting down, "Is everyone all right?"

  
  


"Oh, just dandy," muttered Tanemon, "If I had enough strength to do more than twitch. What was that?" Metalgreymon worked his way down the slope carefully to the downed sextet. It took a few minutes for feeling to come back into their limbs, though having a giant cyborg dinosaur standing next to them did help get the adrenaline pumping.

  
  


Tai said, "Whatever just happened, you were practically sitting on top of it. Agumon was knocked around a bit too, but the Crest of Courage managed to do at least a partial recharge." 

  
  


Jessica said, "I don't know what happened. Just something wiped us out, and then you have the Construct nausea on top of that. I'm lucky I didn't faint." Tai looked confused, and the group quickly explained what was going on. 

  
  


Hikari said at the end, "Yeah, it's a shame Wargreymon couldn't have shown up. That Construct would have been smashed to pieces in a single swipe." Tai looked rather uncomfortable now by the various oddities he probably should have been aware of.

  
  


"Let's go up to my place, and we can compare stories. It sounds like things are going on in the Digital World that nobody wants humanity in general, or the Digidestined, to know about." Growlmon, more or less recovered, let the still trembling humans and one rookie and one in-training, ride on it as they trotted beside Metalgreymon, who was probably at a slow walk, but his massive stride meant Growlmon was downright panting after the ten minutes it took them to reach a large gate set apparently in the middle of nowhere. Ten-foot high walls continued in either direction from the gate, and the Champion Virus-Digimon could see formal old-style gardens with no end in sight.

  
  


Allen gave a low whistle. In Japan, space itself was a massive luxury, and this was opulence on the scale of the Imperial Gardens themselves. Tai blushed and said, "Well, I guess they figured they owed it to me, and I spent quite a few years saving up for additions. The actual house is underground, so there's more room for gardening. Mimi has a land grant similar to this in the Amazon, and its about six times as big, and she's expanded that as well." 

  
  


"Wow," summed Hikari up eloquently, "I had no idea government salaries were so good."

  
  


Tai laughed, "Actually, a lot of the income came from book deals from autobiographies, royalty payments on some figurines, as we were the first to explore the Digital World. Davis gave me a few loans to help out as well. Most of the money for this, though, came from V-Tamer and the anime version of our adventures." The group nodded. Tai had licensed his likeness to a manga set in an 'alternate' Digital World. Tai said in a bashful tone, "Now if I had been that smart as the manga in real life, we probably would have had fewer bumps in the road." Metalgreymon quickly dedigivolved in a flare of light, leaving behind the handy travel-sized Agumon. 

  
  


Growlmon looked embarrassed, "I'm not quite sure I'm low enough energy yet for that." 

  
  


"Do some jumping jacks," Allen quickly suggested, "You look fairly wiped. It shouldn't take too much to push you over the edge." Growlmon shrugged, and everyone got off his back in a hurry. Tai went inside his estate to go check some messages, leaving Agumon to watch over the kids. At jumping jack three hundred and sixty-three, Growlmon slumped over, was covered with red grid lines for a moment, and in a glow of golden light shifted to his rookie form.

  
  


"So very hungry," moaned Guilmon piteously. 

  
  


Agumon said, "Don't worry. Tai should probably have the staff put something together. You're lucky though. Most champions can't maintain it for very long at all. Lately, I've been getting tired easily as well. Probably all the paperwork," Agumon said lightly. Guilmon, however, was too exhausted to respond to the much smaller Rookie. The two walked through the estates, a few gardeners barely visible through the various flowering plants. Upon reaching a small gazebo after a few minutes, Agumon tapped in a code onto a touchpad on the round structure's support. A hatch slid back in the floor, revealing stairs leading down into a bright light. "After you!" Agumon said cheerfully. The group cautiously treaded into Tai's lair.

  
  


Several heavy-looking bulkheads sealed off various areas on the hallway the group entered as the stairway folded up behind them. Agumon referred to them merely as "Where the day job happens." In front of them, however, was a softly lit arch leading into what looked like a traditional home with paper interior screens and brightly polished hardwood floors. Reflexively, the group took off their shoes before continuing. This hadn't been what they were expecting at all.

  
  


After they went through the arch, they found that the apparent living or possibly guest section of Tai's house extended farther than they could see, despite an occasional glimpse of what may have been sunlight. "He has gardens above and under the ground?" Jessica asked. 

Agumon shook his head, "Tai has holographic projectors combined with some skylights. He can view any part of the garden, and likes to switch them around." 

  
  


"Note to self: being hero pays well," muttered Allen. Hikari jumped up to smack him on the back of his head. 

  
  


Jessica, however, seemed a bit angry. Allen really couldn't blame her. This place was almost indecent in terms of sheer value. Meanwhile, Jessica's life had the possibility of constant death from a missed fight over some little piece of land, and there was more land here than had switched hands around Jessica's building in her entire life. The Digidestined, by default, had the most powerful partners of anyone on the planet, and access to the few known Megas in existence. 

"You know, even if they can't get rid of the current territory system," Jessica finally exploded, walking past a vase that Agumon casually mentioned as a Ming dynasty piece, "You guys have Imperialdramon, that should be enough to get 'granted' everyone's approval and stop fights. He took out Malomyotismon!" 

  
  


Agumon winced as he pushed open one last screen, and Jessica turned tomato red when she saw Taichi Kamiya, Digidestined of Courage, and whose partner had direct kills on two Dark Masters, along with several major assists; sitting under a foot warmer with a cup of tea to his lips and a devilish grin on his face. Hikari and Allen stepped slightly away from her as if she was suddenly standing on a radioactive hot spot.

  
  


Tai, however, merely shook his head sadly as Jessica started to go through emotional meltdown, "Things aren't as clear as you think they are when you're young, Jessica, which is the real shame of growing old. For one thing, reaching Mega has been touch and go for a while now, probably because I'm old, and its easy to compromise," Tai smiled bitterly, "And another small thing. Launching the Digital World's equivalent of tactical nuclear weapons around is fine when you're facing the ultimate evil, but a petty person is another thing all together." 

  
  


Things were silent for a moment, before Tai stood up and bowed to them. Jessica, inwardly started to freak out again, but she was still in too much shock from her prior embarrassment. Hikari had to nudge her a little before she rigidly returned the greeting. "Come in and sit down. I have a LOT of questions to ask." 

  
  


*********************

  
  


Demon watched from his desk as a group of Vilemon busy hauling boxes loaded with equipment out of the complex via some tunnels that would get them as far as the sea. It was only a matter of time before Gennai started to send in the heavy guns. Suddenly, a small black gloved hand grabbed the orb from his desk. Demon blinked, wondering when Lady Devimon had gotten into the room.

  
  


"She hasn't," said Angie Misamaru, who had gone from wearing her school uniform to a black body suit and a silver cloak etched with various Digital writings. The cloak's cape was up, partially obscuring her eyes. Biyomon stood placidly by her. Demon actually blinked in surprise, and started to retort, angry and fearful and confused that a *human* could peer into his mind. Then, he stared into her eyes, and actually recoiled. The blackness behind the fire wall seemed to have found residence there. Instead of irises, she had pools of blackness. She ignored Demon for the moment, apparently toying with the device before getting it to light up.

  
  


"You've done quite well, considering you only had a vague idea of what you possessed," she said, a trifle sadly. She wasn't what she had been before coming into contact with the Wall of Fire, and could only hope she really was still running the show. However, current events were more important than her, or the other possible Digidestined's mental stability. With a casual twist of the orb's power, she displayed a scene from nearby. Demon gasped in horror at the sight of the four Holy Beasts, the turtle, tiger, bird, and dragon of legend, along with Gennai around an orb.

  
  


"Yes, they were able to advance a bit faster in their plans than you anticipated. Considering the danger they pose to both worlds, I'm going to be on your side. Lucky me. Despite the late hour, there's a key component that I should still be able to disrupt, but I'll need to borrow this Digimental," Angie said.

  
  


"Take it. You've gotten the Digimental of Darkness to do more than I have in the months with it in my possession," Demon said amiably. This pipsqueak of a girl was definitely a successful capture of a Digidestined, as she was showing that annoying trait of throwing around insane amounts of power. Thus, she was yet another tool, and a tool using a tool was almost the same as keeping it in your hand. Angie merely smiled back slightly as she hugged the orb close to her. 

  
  


"I suggest you continue your evacuations, or hasten them. This is going to attract a lot of attention," Angie warned. Demon nodded and went to 'encourage' the troops. Angie watched him leave the immediate area and turned to the fire wall.

  
  


"Of all the Digidestined to be, why did I have to get the trait at the heart of them all, Biyomon?" she asked sadly. 

  
  


The strain, now that she had the symbol of her power, was tearing at her soul. Darkness, a symbol of destruction and the void, was really another element to be tapped like everything else. In this case, the emotions involved were actually peace and meditation, but the crest's power source came from the unholy powers, and so Gennai had been afraid to tap it with the other Digidestined. Since this was the flip side of the other energy source all the other myriad Crests called upon, there was more energy involved, and the Digimental of Darkness could mimic the armor of any other Digimental for any ancient Digimon capable of armor digivolution. They'd turn viral, but that wasn't necessarily a horrible exchange. Right now, she was preparing to tap something a bit bigger by combining it with her crests. 

  
  


"You can do it, Angie!" she said encouragingly, "I have faith in you."

  
  


"Thanks Biyomon, but I hope it's enough. If I suddenly turn maniacal or something at any point while I'm holding the crest, promise to tear my throat out," she said grimly. Biyomon paused, shocked, but Angie didn't waver and Biyomon nodded. 

  
  


With another icy twist of power, Angie summoned the picture of an injured and slowly dying Construct in the Real World, and held the Digimental up to the image of Skullgreymon. She quickly took her cloak off, and opened the top portion of her body suit, revealing a perfect circle of reddened tissue on the center of her collarbone. It glowed with black light for a moment, matching the Digimental, before a similar light surrounded Skullgreymon. After a second, the image collapsed and the light disappeared, and the Digimental dropped to the floor, followed shortly by Angie. "All right, Tamers. Show me what you're made of," she whispered weakly, refusing to fall into the embrace of sleep, but unable to stand up quite yet. 

  
  


*******************

  
  


The children had just about finished their story to Tai, and he was peering at the two D-Powers the two held out before them in interest. "I'll have to talk to Izzy. Data being uploaded like that is definitely a new trick," he said after they finished, "But I don't see anything wrong with the Digivices. They're just a different model with a bit of a new trick to their operation. That said, there's something you should know Hikari." 

  
  


Tai watched the young girl and wondered if the name was just as tradition or as a homage. Regardless, she didn't resemble the namesake, a little shorter with much darker hair and pigtails. Tai pointed at the Digivice and the sleeping Tanemon, "There's something wrong with the stability of the power source of your Digivice. We don't know quite where the energy is coming from in the first place, but I do know of a Digimon whose exposure to a Digivice led to a similar bit of random digivolving. It also apparently damaged his data fundamentally, so that Leomon never reappeared at Primary Village after he was defeated." 

  
  


"I'm not quite sure I understand," said Hikari in a puzzled tone.

  
  


"Our friend... couldn't be reformatted," Tai said grimly. Hikari took a moment to realize where the term was going and her eyes widened in disbelief. She grabbed the sleepy Digimon and hugged it tight desperately. 

  
  


"Wait a minute!" said Jessica angrily, "That was after it got killed by a Mega right?" Tai looked at her in surprise and Jessica flushed slightly as she said, "It sometimes pays to be an otaku. Anyway, it's possible his egg never returned, or his memories were a bit more damaged than usual, and he returned to another evolutionary line! He died after the Digital World began its breakdown, unlike most of the other revived Digimon, so it's possible there was a bad transfer. Besides, that was when he got killed, and I won't let it happen to Tanemon, while you're too busy sitting back on your laurels!" Jessica shouted, stomping off. Pausing to glare, Crystalmon quickly followed. 

  
  


Allen quickly grabbed the teary-looking Hikari and held onto her. She was normally fairly mature, but it looked like what amounted to a death sentence the way Tai had phrased it was cracking her emotional reserve. Jessica's response had come a bit to late to salve the icy feeling in her stomach.

  
  


Allen, however, watched the two stomp off and muttered, "Wow. She yelled at Tai Kamiya. She's REALLY mad. She usually only gets this mad when someone threatens gang war back home." That didn't seem to cheer Hikari up. "Listen, she's mad because um, well," 'Tai said something really stupid' died on Allen's lips, but everyone still heard it. "I think I'd better go see how she's doing," Allen lamely offered. Hikari followed him after a moment's glare at Tai.

  
  


The scene in the living room held for a moment before Tai slumped over, "I am WAY to used to talking to politicians and not to little girls," the Digidestined noted. After a moment, he turned to look at his partner, "I don't see you contradicting me," he said in mock warning.

  
  


"Should I?" asked Agumon in a confused tone, "I agree with you." Tai slumped over again, and Agumon continued, "We haven't been doing a good enough job. We've been relying on the Gennai Squad to deal with a lot of stuff, and we didn't want to get involved into local politics, since that would be rule by force."

  
  


"Of course, we ended up with that anyway," Tai noted, before running his hands through his greying hair. Kids didn't normally make him feel old, but when he saw a portion of himself back in the good old days of being chased by Dark Masters, it made him wonder when exactly the young Tai had been replaced by a bureaucrat. After another's moment self-pity, Tai hauled himself to his feet, "I should apologize. Let's go Agumon."

  
  


***************************

  
  


In a spot in the Digital World that reminded Gennai of the weather around Myotismon's castle, the Four Holy Beasts were meeting amid storm clouds and desolation. Turtle, dragon, fire bird, and tiger, the sacred animals of some Japanese myth were made digital flesh. Gennai occasionally wondered which came first, the Holy Beast or the real world story? Right now, far more important matters were at hand.

  
  


The four were arranged, in their cardinal directions, around a massive white glowing sphere, approximately twenty feet in diameter. Gennai could feel the touching warmth of so much of the Digital World's energy in one place, and it took all his willpower to not simply take a running leap and bathe in such power. He was connected to the Four Beasts and their energy, an easy way to keep alive by doing a sort of reformatting on himself. However, the four had not told him the cost and craving for power that would come attached. He pays the price as it comes. Life is a surprisingly addictive thing, and after all, he's the Guardian, so his actions should be good. Or so he continued to tell himself.

  
  


Azulongmon was the spokesmon on this project, and he observed the energy field with paternal pride, despite the danger of the situation. "Brothers, we are gathered her for our finest moment. The Destiny Stones' power holds sway over our reality, and our position is firmly anchored enough to destroy that which rests beyond the Fire Wall. We have gathered and nurtured the powers of the Crests and the arrows of light and hope. Much of the Digital World has been scoured for energy as well. Luckily, our plan is ready. The entire Digital World felt the Dark Ocean's last attempt to break through. Now, they will feel our counter strike. We begin our spell." The four Holy Beasts voices, joined by the one true Gennai, were joined together. 

  
  


The powerful sphere of energy crackled. It was not merely a glowing ball of light, instead, it was concentrated Power, as compressed as five of the Digital World's most ancient beings could manage. Though resembling Wargreymon's special Terra Force attack, this was to a Terra Force in terms of raw energy as a Terra Force was to, say, a bubble blow attack. And, the energy sphere was relatively weak besides what they would eventually accomplish. This ball was the sum of much of the Digital World's 'free' energy, things that the structure could do without to little harmful effect. When properly used, this energy ball could be used to temporarily focus much of the Digital World's ENTIRE energy flow to some purpose. Digimon, good, bad, and in between; looked up with a sense of foreboding as the spell began to take hold.

  
  


*****************

  
  


Tai was headstrong, often impetuous, and if he didn't watch his words, tended to cause trouble, the likely cause of the breakup with his childhood sweetheart. However, Tai had years of training with diplomats to learn exactly when and what to say when on duty, and he had decided his mistake was to treat the meeting with the children as informal, ignoring most of those highly conditioned traits. To say Taichi Kamiya was good at his job was an understatement. He had a full apology ready and composed in the three minutes it took to catch up to the three.

  
  


However, Tai was a long way from being chased by half of the known Digital species all over Server. It didn't take an Izzy to figure out something was up when he easily caught up with them. The six, for some reason, were dead stopped and quivering. Jessica and Crystalmon were paused about thirty feet farther along and half-way up the stairwell from the other pairs. Tai took one look at Agumon, who shrugged. 

  
  


Then a noise like a rock concert slammed down on them, and the two hit the ground. "Construct," Tai spat out. His home was rather well protected, but a certain skeletal figure had decided to mess with his flower beds, and would definitely pay for that. He picked himself up and ran for the stairwell. The shockwave had been enough to refocus the six, apparently, but they didn't seem eager to rush up the stairs. Tai's slightly-out-of-practice eye took critical seconds to identify the problem, while the sound of explosions continued to trickle down. Crystalmon had several nasty purple bruises on other white scales, Guilmon hadn't gotten any food yet and was drooping a bit, and Tanemon just looked wilted. 

  
  


"This was going to be your, what, third fight of the day?" Tai asked. The group nodded. "All right. Stay here, and I should at least be able to hold him off long enough to make some calls." With that, the Digidestined rushed up the stairs. 

  
  


And what Tai came face to face with wasn't at all what he was expecting. Instead of a multiple story skeletal dinosaur, a black-armored humanoid reptile was flinging around bolts of sullen, bloody red. Everything about the color scheme was a parody of Tai's partner's Mega form. "Blackwargreymon?" Tai breathed incredulously. Which was all the time had before the monster spotted him.

  
  


To be continued

  
  


Author's notes: "I will not parody the creepy announcer voice." Pretty much the mantra for when I saw how the last few pages would turn out.

  
  


A cliffhanger, yes, but we already had one battle sequence, two or three plot revelations, and several character development pieces in this chapter. The introduction of Blackwargreymon (not the original, this is a Construct) seemed a good place to stop. Especially since this part was a few weeks in coming together. sigh

  
  


The usual nausea was greatly amplified in this case because it was a Mega. So far, the more powerful the Digimon constructed, the worse it feeling. Considering how banged around they were, it was that much worse, leaving them effectively crippled despite the potshots.

  
  


Why did Hikari pick it up? She's been training with them enough to start to learn the signs. Maybe. We'll see.

  
  


Yes, the orb was the Digimental of Darkness. I was wandering around megchan's encyclopedia (prior to it going down), and noted this in the item's section as I was deciding on cards for them to carry. It was, frankly, a great looking Macguffin, so I ran with it. The digivolution powers were taken straight from the translated card text.

  
  


Let's see. Next time: The Four Holy Beasts spell is ripping apart the Digital World, the Demon Corps is ripping apart its base, and Blackwargreymon is ripping up Tai's flowers! And the Tamers have been too beat up to give much assistance. It's up to a worn Agumon and a weakened Tai to battle the Mega.


	7. Cleansing Fire!

Crystal Tamers

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Cleansing Fire! The Aura of Chromamon

  
  


Note: I had this episode nearly finished, but it got accidentally wiped out and I didn't have a backup. That's why this took so long to post. Also, yes, I switched Saban's names (probably) for the northern and southern Holy Beasts. This version matches the Japanese better (Zhuquiaomon probably goes to Zhuquiaomon rather than Ebonwumon)

  
  


Disclaimer: C-tamer is a mixture of seasons 1 and 2 with a heavy dash of Tamers thrown in for good measure. Sadly, I don't own any of it, so don't sue me!

  
  


*****************

  
  


Blackwargreymon: A one-shot viral modification based on one of the Digital World's greatest heroes, Wargreymon (q.v.). Created by one of Myotismon's 'children' from an evil energy force that is still not understood, but is generally assumed to have been forged in the Dark Ocean (a mysterious sub-plane to the Digital World that seems to have harmful influences in mind, as well as being the original home of the Dark Masters (q.v)). Unlike most of the Control Spire monsters, Blackwargreymon displayed clear free will and followed his own agenda before sacrificing himself to create a temporary barrier in the data world between our reality and its digital counterpart.

  
  


Blackwargreymon's sacrifice led to a greater acceptance of Viral types (most of which are aggressive, but show little of the megalomania common to the Viral Digimon the Digidestined encounctered), but also led to most major religions refusing to acknowledge Digimon having souls for almost fifteen years, due to a true Digimon being crafted from non-living sources. 

- World Book entry on Blackwargreymon, 2049 on-line edition. 

  
  


*****************

  
  


The Digital World screamed as its supposed greatest protectors attempted to rape its very life force. Plants withered, Digimon collapsed, the skies and oceans roiled, and fissures were drawn through the earth. 

  
  


The Holy Beasts, mysterious, powerful, and so utterly convinced of the rightness of their quest to try and destroy the Dark Ocean, had long ago stolen a great deal of power from the Digital World and the Digidestined. The greatest trick had been convincing them that it was for a good cause, where instead they had merely been turning back the clock.

  
  


Now, Gennai, feeling greatly revitalized by the near presence of the massive, and still growing, energy the Holy Beasts had gathered, looked around at his compatriots in the Digital World's greatest crime, the theft of the Digital World's soul.

  
  


Azulongmon was the most public of the four, bonded to the Eastern regions of the Digital World where much of the Digidestined's fighting had taken place against the renewed threat. Greatly resembling Magnadramon, the blue flying serpent-like dragon's legs were comfortably wrapped in his Digicores. Much of the current plan had only been able to take place due to Azulongmon's ability to keep the Digidestined from taking undue notice of certain recent ... discrepancies. Tricking Gennai into granting him a needed life extension (necessary to protect the Digital World's privacy) that, as a minor defect, tied the Guardian to the Holy Beasts was simply a bonus.

  
  


On the north cardinal point of the massive energy ball rested the ancient Ebonwumon. Tinted grey, this Holy Beast was a massive two-headed turtle whose shell was an ancient hardened tree. The oldest and probably the wisest, he had managed to rein in the other three, greatly increasing their chances as the Digital World stopped struggling at its bindings. Now quiescent, the energy of an entire world was much easier to control. Though it was still dangerous, it was nowhere near like the struggling to defuse an atomic bomb that had gone off that Azulongmon had been prepared to deal with. Twelve dusty-looking Digicores shielded the Mega's trunk-shell.

  
  


Baihumon, a rather armored and spiky looking white tiger, though set to the same massive scale as the other Holy Beasts rested at the south point. His Digicores flashed with energy as he struggled to maintain concentration. He wasn't quite as powerful generally as the others, but he had found the ancient texts that had been long forgotten and discarded in limbo, that gave the Holy Beasts the chance to strike a true and lasting victory against Darkness by destroying the Dark Ocean. True, the Digital World had to be pillaged to within a micrometer of losing integrity, but it should eventually recover.

  
  


The western Holy Beast resembled the legendary phoenix, however he had four eyes and four sets of wings, though his color and element was the same fiery red as that of the traditional image. A master of energy, he had formed the spells that drained the Digital World and it was he who was nearly prescient about detecting the minor flares within the containment field, preventing the entire artifice from coming tumbling down. Despite Zhuquiaomon relaxed appearance, he was carefully tracking every speck of energy he could see as the glowing ball of light's diameter was quickly approaching Venommyotismon's height. Soon it would be unleashed upon the Dark Ocean, utterly destroying it.

  
  


Somewhere very close physically but quite a long ways as beings traveled, laughed at their childish antics.

  
  


**************

  
  


To Angie's amazement, she was still on her feet, despite a headache that felt like one of Demon's Evil Infernos was going off behind her temples. Actually, most of the other children tested against the Wall of Fire, well, the older ones anyway, had managed to remain on their feet, though each had the most intense expression Angie had seen on them in the days since the new Chosen had been traumatized by the forced contact with what lay at the core of the Wall of Fire. Right now that expression varied. The older children who were still conscious were split into two groups. There was still a veil across their souls, and Angie couldn't quite make out which trait the other nine bearers of the Digital World's spirits would bear, but there were differences with the sexes. The girls looked at Angie in pained pity for the fact she was experiencing it worse. The boys generally had relief in the fact that they didn't have it worse. 

  
  


Angie's original plan seemed to have fallen through. Blackwargreymon was an inversion of everything that made up a normal Digimon, and he was actually feeding on the distortion, draining away the chaos through the Digital World. With the gate failing, his meal had stopped, but Angie hoped that her friends in the Real World would be able to track the Construct. They had mastered the fine art of casting spells upon their partners, relying on the strength of their connection to the Digital World's spirits and the soul bond with their partners. Angie was a novice compared to them, and she had pinned her hopes upon them. 

  
  


She might never know if they succeeded right now. She had to be strong, for everyone's sake. There was one thing on all the faces that stood before Angie, who had only the fallen Mega and her partner by her side, and a howling vortex of nothingness behind her. The new Chosen, or possibly Tamers, to use her old friend's naming system, as well as the other humans waiting behind them, still under the spell. The various Rookie and in-training aids, the Champions, captains dedicated to help spy and keep the Digital World healed, and Demon's three Ultimate advisors, demonic Viruses true, but hand-picked by Demon for their dedication to preserving their world. What they planned to do with an intact Digital World was a point of disharmony among Demon's army, large for the Digital world but quite small by human standards. Still, for now, everyone had one look, and that was a plead for guidance. Angie had gone through the trials in better shape than anyone and shown initiative and temporarily, at least, had Demon's favor. 

  
  


"All right," Angie took a deep breath as her mind raced. The Digital World cried out for energy, but Angie had overloaded the Digimental of Darkness, and there were still too many shadows in her mind for her to risk casting a spell. Urgently voiced shouting, though reduced to faint whispers in her shrouded mind, suggested that the raw energy from a bad casting would probably dissolve the Digital World in this section. 

  
  


"We need that gate to reopen. Can anyone fix that?" Angie said after a moment's thought. Draining the Real World wasn't a great option, and Angie hoped there weren't any hospitals near where the Gate would open, but it would buy them some time to be able to think without the Digital World's death knells in her ear, as well as slow down the Holy Beast's spell thanks to Blackwargreymon.

  
  


Skullsatomon raised his bone weapon into the air uneasily. The crowds parted for the massive demonic power-house as he walked from overseeing the children to overlooking the distortion that had been his master's Gate. The Mega-powerful Ultimate stared at the Gate in contemplation for a moment before lancing forward suddenly, his club enveloped with blue freezing power. "Nail Bone!" howled the demon triumphantly, and suddenly, the gate flickered into place. "That wasn't too bad. I just froze the section of the Digital World into relation with the gate so we'd have a stable connection." 

  
  


Angie merely nodded. With the fear emanating from the Digital World itself subsiding her mind was starting to work better. Darkness and serenity had been her calling, even prior to her awakening, and that calm planning and weaving of ideas was her true strength. However, there were so many problems to fix, that it was almost impossible to see where to begin. The immediate area needed help, Digimon were dying as their reality was drained away, and the Real World was starting to shudder in sympathetic vibrations as the Digital World headed towards a final crash. 

  
  


"I really, really miss Jessica right now," muttered Angie. Her friend, depression ridden, and always seeming only moments away from a suicide attempt, had still been able to display amazingly clear vision, brilliant intuition, and empathy. Never giving herself any light, she had instead dedicated herself to making other humans' and Digimons' lives easier. Angie blinked in astonishment at an errant thought. Jessica was more powerful for now, but she had been fairly empathetic. Angie wasn't quite as strong, but she had broken through the spell better, and had always believed she was a decent person. There was definitely a connection there but now was not the time. 

  
  


"Jessica knew the Digital World and Digimon like the back of her hand. She's easily faced down, with some help from Allen," Angie was honest with herself, probably why she had managed to face down the wall so well, "All the Constructs we've thrown to boost and hone her powers. She'd have this situation figured out in a second. Some lever to move things," Angie continued muttering. "Of course, she'd also be willing to take the pain," Angie said in realization, "Everyone! Stop shutting your senses down and get them wide open! If we can find out where this is coming from, we may be able to open a gate to that location!" Everyone, no matter what species or level, groaned at that statement. A quick glare got them all to concentrating. Well, that or the sudden tremor underfoot.

  
  


Angie however, quit trying to ignore the Digital World's pleas and embraced them. Her world spun away for a moment, and when she regained conscious, it was all she could do to stop from cursing. Lady Devimon was there to help support her, tears running from her eyes at the pain. Angie said weakly, "If I'd done that sooner instead of messing with the Digimental, we'd be able to do something by now. They're on Server, at an old weak point in the barrier."

  
  


"Myotismon's old castle site," said Marinedevimon, who'd been fairly quiet up until now, mainly because he was in charge of baggage and had been more exhausted than anyone else. "That is an old place of power, much like Infinity Mountain is. The currents of the Digital World flow to that location, and things done there touch much of everything else. It's why the topography is so bad throughout that space, echoes of other parts of the Digital World reside there as well." 

  
  


"Could we connect the gate to that location, and maybe disrupt the spell?" asked Angie.

  
  


"Lord Demon could, but unless you've unlocked the full potential hinted at in those ancient texts, I think we're out of luck," said Lady Devimon grimly. Angie used words a twelve-year-old shouldn't know.

  
  


***************

  
  


Jessica, Allen, and Hikari, plus assorted Digimon, stayed behind a low set of artfully arranged boulders in the shattered remnants of Tai's garden. She was trying to shake her head to clear it. Explosions had nearly shattered her ear drums from underground. Tai's house had a lair of armor built above it, but it wasn't designed to deal with Terra Destroyers. When the ceiling had started to buckle, the group cleared out. She wasn't sure if all the ringing in her ears was from the explosions. It felt like something was trying to get her attention by yelling, but she couldn't quite make out what was being said. Hikari's expression looked like what Jessica thought hers was, a bit distant as well, but she also looked exhausted.

  
  


Allen looked at them in worry. It was possible they had been injured in the mad scramble up the stairs, as the ceiling started to collapse, and they'd need all their wits about them to survive. Metalgreymon was fighting desperately, but Blackwargreymon was nearly as fast, and his shield was immune to whatever Metalgreymon threw out. He studied the Construct more carefully. It seemed to be getting stronger. The afternoon was starting to go into shadows, and Tai's little valley was darkening as the mountains around it hid the sun. However, it seemed that the darkness was growing around Blackwargreymon in particular as well. 

  
  


"We need to provide a distraction," Allen muttered. Guilmon looked at him in fright, and Jessica just stared at him blankly. "Come on, Jessica. Even I can feel that's the same Construct that killed Veedramon. You can't be thinking we can talk with that thing!" he yelled.

  
  


Jessica shook her head tentatively, as if she was afraid it was going to fall off. "No, it's not that. That's just a symptom," she said distantly, before making a visible effort to focus, "There's something very wrong going on nearby. This is nothing compared to that."

  
  


"Think globally, act locally, Jessica!" Allen yelled in frustration, "Eventually, Blackwargreymon is going to land a solid blow on Metalgreymon, and then it'll be over. We need to provide a distraction." 

  
  


Jessica nodded, before looking at her D-Power with some trepidation. Besides Crystalmon, not a lot of good had come from it. Hikari, meanwhile, was focusing, hoping to jump Tanemon back up to her champion form, before opening her eyes in anguish. "Jessica's right, Allen. I've been training with you guys too long. I can hear something yelling, and it gets worse when I focus on trying to digivolve Tanemon." 

  
  


"We've never dealt with a Mega before," said Jessica thoughtfully, while looking through the cards she had, before selecting one. "Whatever has been written on them shows that they tend to break the rules. But you're right, Hikari. We need to figure out how to deal with this guy. First things first!" she declared, closing her eyes, and focusing on the card in her hand. After a moment it began to crackle with energy. "Crystalmon's been battered, and I wanted to let her heal normally. Sorry," she apologized as the card became too bright to look at. Crystalmon wearily bowed her head, indicating she was fine.

  
  


Allen had a card out as well to deal with Guilmon's needs, though he wasn't working on boosting it at all. "Digi-modfiy!" the two said at the same time, "Seed of health activate!" The slight green glow of Allen's slash was overwhelmed by the energy dome created by Jessica. The massive field of healing power spread out across the valley. Blackwargreymon and Metalgreymon turned to face it and were engulfed. Metalgreymon perked up, with the tiny scratched on him repaired. Blackwargreymon, however, howled with agony within the white space. The dome finally retracted, leaving the trio feeling a bit stunned from the power. 

  
  


Jessica keeled over like she had been struck. The energy had been given freely, but it felt like the spiritual equivalent of getting a blood transfusion from a dying man. The D-Power's screen switched off as she hit the ground. Allen also reeled a bit, but his gift wasn't to hear, but it was to see. The power lines that he normally didn't notice were clear now because so few of them were remaining, besides the fat lines running into Blackwargreymon. Already they were questing to reestablish themselves in the heavily armored Construct. 

  
  


The dragon-man Construct could feel himself sleeting away as Kindness's power was released. Roaring, Blackwargreymon struggled and soon formed a small Terra Destroyer in his hand. Metalgreymon, Tai riding, thought it was for them, and tried to get farther from the children. Blackwargreymon didn't deign to notice the insignificant cyborg, hurling the globe of sullen red energy at the group.

  
  


Allen yelled as it was approaching. In fear, anger, or pain was something he never became sure of. Acting on instincts older than him, he held the D-Power up. In the moment before its screen darkened, a storm of hail and lightning spat out of it, ensnaring the Terra Destroyer. After a moment, it exploded. But the power surrounding it forced it to do so .... elsewhere.

  
  


*************** 

  
  


The group of Digidestined were blasted off their feet as power was forced back along the lines Skullsatomon had, well, nailed into place. With the ultimate's spell disrupted, the portal started to fluctuate before starting to be torn into strips that started to float their way towards Myotismon's old castle site. 

  
  


Angie started to shake once she felt Blackwargreymon's energies be drained into the area from sheer helplessness. It had probably helped buy some time, but there wasn't Apocalypmon of the giant reset button here to save the Digital World. It was up to them, and their attempts were failing. 

  
  


Suddenly, the Digimental of Darkness began to pulse again. Angie groaned and fell to the shuddering ground. Touching the Digital World's core, hidden behind fire and darkness, had influenced her before, and it looked like they were again. "Why can't I just think for myself?" she whispered.

  
  


"There's no time," the Digimental replied, with a voice comprised of millions. "We can do nothing, warded and bound by the Holy Beasts, and the current Guardians are either helpless spirits or have been corrupted. We need you to try and disrupt their spell. The Holy Beasts are moments away from opening a gate to the Dark Ocean. The master of that realm has created a twisted parody of the Digital World from his will alone. He is the true enemy of the twin worlds, but has managed to turn so much to him. He cannot be allowed to work in this world directly!"

  
  


"Okay, enough propagandizing!" she whispered. Her headache was getting worse. "So explain to me how this nebulous plan and prophecies that you mentioned the last time in my head have to do with us having our souls sealed shut?" 

  
  


"That was unfortunate, but you would either have gone mad or shut us out completely without it. Now, let us guide your actions!" stated the voices. Angie suddenly realized that the spirit in the orb had been talking to everyone when the four youngest children suddenly started to glow with golden light, knocking the six older ones back. 

  
  


"Fate, Miracles, Hope, and Light stand ready. Do with us what you will," they said in eery harmony. The golden light grew, but became intermeshed with a black mist Angie remembered all too well from a school day that couldn't be over a few weeks ago but seemed like years. She backed up a few steps involuntarily as the mist formed a shell around them, temporarily giving their powers a reprieve. 

  
  


Angie shook her head. This was all going too fast. She asked, "Okay: even with the most powerful crests, do they think they can match Dark-Master level Megas?"

  
  


John, the older jock stood by his Veemon, and muttered shamefully, "I don't want to be controlled again. Good work or no good work, I miss my family." The others, well those not currently glowing, nodded.

  
  


"I'd like to do some controlling," muttered Margaret near her Piddomon. "No more of this stupid Digital World screaming in my ears. I wish I could just turn it all off!" 

  
  


Angie shuddered at that. She couldn't fault the girl, well besides the betrayal of trust she had engaged in, but not sensing the Digital World, though she wasn't good yet, meant going back to the old days of the faint depression. She had covered it up with shallowness to a degree. "Wait, turning it off! The Digital World, for whatever reason, talks to us, right?" The others gave a 'duh' look and pointed at the four power sources. "Right," she said self-consciously, "If Demon was right, the spirits are what makes up the Digital World, and the Holy Beast are stealing stuff from them." Small fissures appeared in the earth almost on cue. The Digital World's structure was starting to decay. Angie said more loudly, "So, why not try and cut the connections they're using?"

  
  


"Just pull the Digital World's power back where it belongs? Can we do that?" John asked.

  
  


"The Holy Beasts are," noted Angie angrily. She ran her fingers through her hair, "Listen: We didn't have time for any training, so we'll just have to wing it. After all, we've got miracles, fate and hope on our side," she smiled, "Along with almost everything else. Just concentrate. I've heard it before, and maybe we can get it to listen back." Everyone stared at her, and she said defensively, "This is all I've got, guys. We're way outmatched by the Holy Beasts, and they can control the very structure of the Digital World, and are doing it right now. So, let's not feed them like those four are doing and do something." 

  
  


The others nodded and concentrated. Tiny sparkles of light surrounded the six, before beginning to spin around, dragging a vortex into being around the group.

  
  


**************

  
  


The Holy Beasts roared in astonishment as the energy, which had been passive, suddenly started to flow into the sphere at a greatly accelerated rate. Then the containment field began to writhe as various colors of energy tried to find their way free of the field. 

  
  


Baihumon roared accusingly, "This is crest energy, Azulongmon and Gennai! You said that the crests were accounted for! You said we had access to all the digivolution energy!" 

  
  


"All the crests bearers had given up their powers!" Gennai insisted, "We routed some through a Digicore to give them their powers back due to Myotismon's unexpected revival, but the arrows of Hope and Light and all the other crests are drained and in there, my lords!"

"Then I suggest you figure out where this other energy is coming from, Gennai," hissed Azulongmon dangerously, "There's a new source from somewhere. If not the Crests and Digivices you designed, then perhaps it is some fool with a Digivice somewhere who did not get out before the Gates were closed!" 

  
  


Gennai started to reply, and then stopped. He hung his head for a minute, with the glares of the four Holy Beasts beating down when they had a moment in between trying to stop their bomb from going off. He bowed and said, "I believe I may know the answer. I thought there was an attempt by a certain Mega to fulfill a certain prophecy. I did run into an interesting Digivice several weeks ago, but I believed, apparently incorrectly, that it was a simple result of Demon's corruption that would quickly drain their life energy." 

  
  


Azulongmon's voice was filled with dread, "He reached the heart of the Wall of Fire, did he?" Gennai nodded reluctantly. "Find them," Azulongmon said with finality, "Find them, Gennai, and kill them quickly. If he has gotten at the unfinished prophecies, there must be no chance to allow what little is written there to come to completion." Gennai nodded in agreement and flew off. Now that he knew what to look for, the holy powers of four crests being pumped into the Digital World were obvious, and he dashed across the dying oceans towards File Island.

  
  


************

  
  


"Allen," said Hikari shakily, "I don't know what you did, but I'm very glad you did it." A blackened crescent shape showed where the Terra Destroyer had been halted. 

  
  


Jessica was a bit more focused, and screamed when Wargreymon's right claw found its way into Metalgreymon's chest. The metal pierced with an ear-rending shriek, and then Agumon and Tai collapsed to the ground in a flash of orange light. "There has to be something we can do," she stated, mind racing through combinations.

  
  


"Great idea, Jessica, except for one problem," Allen stated flatly. He held up his Digivice, which looked dead as it hung limply. "It doesn't seem that the D-Powers are working. It looks like we should have listened. Something big is happening." Jessica double-checked her D-Power, but its screen was blank as well. 

Hikari checked hers, but the screen was still merrily lit. Tanemon wasn't digivolving, but the Digivice was in its normal standby mode. "Must just be you two, then," she remarked. 

  
  


"This doesn't make any sense," Jessica said wearily. Stress, fear, and the amount of energy she had pushed into the first card slash was getting to her, and now she had problems keeping her eyes open. 

  
  


Luckily, she wasn't the only one. Blackwargreymon had stopped flying soon after taking out Metalgreymon. His last Terra Destroyer had been barely the size of a volleyball. He felt cut off from his power source. He wasn't intelligent per se, but Angie's power boost had included some powerful space-time manipulative abilities. She had just been trying to make him a sink for the chaos, and transfer energy from the Real World to the Digital one as life support. The Digimental of Darkness had thrown in a few options of its own, however, and Blackwargreymon quickly charged its claws with power. Thrusting both arms out ahead of its body, the Mega Construct pulled them apart, leaving a hole in reality behind. Weakened, the Digidestined of Courage and the young Tamers could only watch as darkness began to flow over the Mega, whose minor cuts and scratches quickly started to heal. 

  
  


************

  
  


This was what he had been waiting for. The master of the Dark Ocean, possibly the single most evil creature that the twin worlds were aware of, watched in satisfaction. Blackwargreymon was powerful enough to open a gate, but had no ability to control it. Now he could put it into position over the Holy Beasts plateau. They were planning to open such a gate and unleash the power, and would take no note of it arriving ahead of schedule. 

  
  


The Holy Beasts had gathered the energy of the Digital World in one place. While he could create creatures capable of defeating the four, and had in the past, allowing them to hand the Digital World, and the gateway to its counterpart, on a platter was far sweeter and easier. He hadn't even had to manipulate them much, and they had neutralized the old Digidestined for him. He almost felt bad that he hadn't gotten them a present. Almost

There was one problem remaining, and it was only a possible threat. The younger Digidestined, or Tamers, or whatever the correct term was. Demon had remained beyond his control, even when approaching into the Dark Ocean, and he was a shadowy puzzle wrapped inside an enigma. His motives were even more unclear than his history. World domination seemed likely, but Digidestined had a bad habit of not remaining under control. Especially since these young ones were incredibly hard to actually focus on, when nothing should escape the master's senses. Why Demon was expending so much effort was unclear. Demon possibly had enough power to destroy a Holy Beast, but instead he had focused on saving his followers rather than build up strength to seize portions of the Digital World. It was very bizarre to the dark one's thinking.

  
  


The control spell he used was also bizarre. It did not control them to a great degree. Considering the spell had been cast near birth, they should have had no possible defense, as the spell was as much a part of their personality basis as anything else. Still, the master approved of the depression all of the recipients seemed to suffer from to a degree. It obviously did some sort of emotional manipulation, but that was almost a side effect, and not very strong. Instead, it cloaked them, and their power, which the master wasn't quite sure he understood completely.

  
  


Still, it was worth the time to deal with the children first. Digimon with children were usually more dangerous than Digimon without a partner, in the experienced view of most recent powerful evil Digimon. Mumbling in an exotic tongue, the master opened a small window, and merged that portal with Blackwargreymon's. With a three-way connection, he could keep an eye on all three worlds he was interested in. Without another gesture, he moved the Digital end above the glowing ball of energy. 

  
  


Yes, in a few moments the Holy Beasts would attempt to unleash all the energy in an attempt to destroy him, but meanwhile, the spirits that bound human dreams into data form were all gathered in one place and achingly ready for the taking. With the Holy Beasts so focused on gathering energy, slipping a little of his own in would be easy, and very profitable.

  
  


***********

  
  


The younger children, possessed of holy powers and ancient entities poured power down the unready maws of the Holy Beasts. The golden light brought them nearly to their limit. With Gennai currently tracking down the source, no one really could pay attention why the black vortex had pulled in ahead of schedule. Aggravating the situation were the tiny sparkles that the older children could manage yet. This energy wasn't intended to overpower the Holy Beasts, but rather it led other energy in an attempt to escape the containment field. 

  
  


In the midst of all this degenerating chaos, a few web-like strands of pure blackness went totally unnoticed by the Holy Beasts. So, they didn't notice that coincidentally, the struggles within the field stopped intensifying, allowing them to maintain control.

  
  


Gennai, dashing across the ocean like Piedmon was no his tail, arrived at a bizarre scene. A large group of data and viral Digimon, including Demon, were all lying around unconscious. In the middle of a clearing however, were six figures lying on the ground, encased in ice with dark, organic-looking webbing pulsating through it. Four others were floating, with golden cracks through the ice and the webbing.

  
  


Gennai ignored the dark Digimon temporarily to look at the children. He could feel unholy power radiating off of the webbing, and assumed it had something to do with the demons in the area. However, the younger ones had the distinct aura of holy energies, similar to Azulongmon. Gennai shrugged, "Well let's kill two birds with one stone: Sweet youth returns again!" Gennai gestured and power started to flow from the ensnared Tamers. The black webbing grew like lichen over the surface of the ice as Gennai's data was reformed, with his hair steadily darkening and the small wrinkles on his face smoothing out. The shakings in the area started to grow again as the Holy Beasts were able to drain the energy in the Digital World rather than the energy that the children were attempting to overwhelm them with. Meanwhile, they began to get paler and paler. The dark master actually clapped his hands with glee. He'd apparently only managed to catch the ones in the Digital World, but this would speed things up nicely.

  
  


****************

  
  


Back in the real world, Blackwargreymon was growing in power. The real world was starting to resonate with the effects of the Digital World, and there had been a small earthquake already in the last few minutes. While the weather had been amazingly pleasant just a little while before, the temperature had dropped at least five degrees on the Celsius scale, and storm clouds were beginning to form overhead. Wind howled through the valley.

  
  


Blackwargreymon had made no move to finish them off for the time being, busy soaking in power. With a more advanced programming than 'hunt down Tamers', he would probably have tossed a few small Terra Destroyers, but right now he was busy recharging, and then he would destroy them. 

  
  


Jessica was busy digging through her card collection before grabbing Hikari's small bundle and doing the same. She sighed in relief and clutched a card to her chest. "Thank goodness I found this," she said tiredly. It was getting so she could barely focus on the writing. She shook herself, and wished for some sort of caffeine. "Okay, this situation is something the second group saw," Jessica said before yawning. It was so very cold. She forced herself to go on, "I need to get close to the portal, but can you give a distraction?" 

  
  


Allen looked at Guilmon who nodded. Allen replied, "I think we can try something. Pyro sphere is strong enough to maybe disrupt the energy flow. How are you going to get that card to work?" 

  
  


"I'll think of something," she said more courageously than she felt, "I just need to get close in so it'll work faster. I'll try and stay out of Blackwargreymon's way, and he's probably going to feel this. Crystalmon, stay here. You're not necessary for this, and I want to avoid getting you hurt."

  
  


"Sorry," the Digimon replied cheerfully, "It doesn't work that way. I only contradict you when you're not being confident. Otherwise, I'm at your side!" 

"Mental links have their disadvantages," Jessica noted with a small smile. "Hikari, I can't force you to do this, but I'd appreciate any help you could provide." 

  
  


Hikari scooped up Tanemon. "Please, you live to six years old, you know how to dodge a Digimon battle. Even you know that this is just a bit more rough version of what the city's like. Dark, dreary. Admittedly, it's less polluted here, but I'm in with you, Jessica." Jessica nodded her thanks, and held up three fingers, folding one up after another. On zero, everyone started running, Hikari and Allen on diagonals on her path. Straight towards the beast.

  
  


Tai was watching from the remnants of his prized gazebo. That fall had probably broken a few ribs, and he wasn't getting any younger. However, the rather good-sized red Guilmon stood out easily in the smouldering fields, and he didn't need Agumon's eyes to pick it out. Agumon didn't know that however, and quickly asked, "There's the three kids? What are they doing, Tai?" 

  
  


Tai said nothing still, watching carefully. What Jessica had said, only about thirty minutes ago now, was preying on his mind. Impassioned stances were for the young, but Tai remembered thinking like that, back before being convinced to give up his powers. He wasn't sure when it had started, but young Tai would have preferred to stay and fight whatever menaces waited. Older Tai didn't mind, and barely even fought when Sora had switched her preference so long ago.

  
  


Still, they were going for the attempt. They were probably too weak to digivolve their partners, after what tricks they had pulled to buy themselves some time. Jessica was behind the other two, stumbling over the uneven ground, and it seemed only her partner's urging was keeping her upright. Tai's eyes narrowed. He couldn't make out details at this range, "I don't think this is some defiant last stand. Agumon, is there anything in Jessica's hands?" 

  
  


Agumon stared for a moment, "She has that weird Digivice and I think a card, Tai. I can't make out what's on it." Agumon sniffed, "It smells like spring though," he noted absently. 

  
  


"So that snout is good for something," Tai remarked. Tai held up his hands to ward off Agumon's reflex hurt gesture. "So this isn't some attempt to at least die with honor. Agumon, let's go, they need our help."

  
  


"Tai! I can't digivolve again so soon! Maybe with the crests, or in the Digital World, I could manage it. But I need some food or a couple hours to try for Metalgreymon again on just a Digi-core," Agumon said frantically.

  
  


"We're not ready to destroy that thing, yet, old buddy. Remember, she swiped another card and fixed you up?" Tai asked. Agumon nodded hesitantly, and Tai said triumphantly, "So, she's probably planning something like that. We just need to go out there and keep that big bastard busy, all right?" Agumon nodded, determined now. He didn't like playing the more activist of the two, and having to reign in Tai brought to mind fond memories of a summer long past. Agumon howled and charged ahead, Tai right behind him.

  
  


"Pyro sphere!" yelled Guilmon. A spot on Blackwargreymon's chest was cleared of the dark fire flowing over him for a moment as the projectile exploded. Blackwargreymon's mind clicked over, and prepared to annihilate the virus type.

  
  


"Pepper breath!" said Agumon casually, and his tiny puff of flame shot out. It wasn't nearly as strong as the Pyro sphere, but Agumon had plenty of experience, and could control his attack perfectly. The tiny puff of hot air was directed exactly to go straight into the eyehole in Blackwargreymon's helmet. The Mega roared as he was temporarily blinded. Even when striking such a vulnerable spot, a mere Rookie's attack couldn't permanently injure him, at least on the first attempt. 

  
  


Blackwargreymon stopped draining power, and turned to face towards the two Rookies and partners. A Terra Destroyer began to form in his outstretched hands, but a set of bubbles tickled at his neck. Programmed to deal with the immediate threat, Blackwargreymon banished the attack to see a small girl, and an even smaller Digimon staring defiantly at him. "I'm not letting you hurt anyone," Hikari warned. She focused, trying to relieve her tension. She needed to get ready to run, relying on her experience and knowledge of turf wars in the city to see her through, not the Digivice or anyone else besides Tanemon, her other half. Suddenly, her Digivice shrieked and a pulse of light burst forth. Blackwargreymon staggered backwards away from the gate. A quick round of fire balls from Agumon and Guilmon drove him another step back. 

  
  


Hikari looked at her Digivice in surprise. It had changed to resemble Jessica's and Allen's, except instead of the blue-white of Jessica's or red of Allen's, it was a shimmering purple. "D-Power off-line," traced letters on the artifact's screen, "Awaiting Digivolution to rookie level to activate Digi-modification system." As the last line blinked, Hikari gasped. What little she had been getting of Jessica's sensing abilities from their training together had suddenly magnified a hundred fold, and she could hear screaming from everything around her, but especially the parody of life in front of her. Jessica had training and time to come to grips with her sensitivity, but Hikari's was stuck at one level: full on. She collapsed, unconscious from the sudden strain.

  
  


Jessica only noted the flash of light, and fuzzily thought the Digivice had started working again. Her only focus was on the gate and the Mega Construct, and she was pleased to see it knocked backwards and indecisive. It focused no attention on her, and she was able to draw up reasonably close to the gate. 

  
  


"Please," she whispered, hoping that whatever shared her body would listen. "I can't do this myself. Just enough strength to do this one thing." Blackness tore at the edges of her vision in response, but the card began to grow warm in her hands with energy. "Digi-modify," she said, slightly slurring the words. "Destiny stone, activate!" she said, and brought the card into contact with the reader. She hesitated for a moment. She was so cold it was starting to chill her bones. Crystalmon shrieked as ice was actually starting to form on her. 

  
  


The presence behind the gate, however, was attracted to the power. A set of black webbing spun out and around her, finishing the process of freezing her in place, and locking her in stasis. Jessica was lost to the outside world.

  
  


***************

  
  


She awoke suddenly in a dark, chilly place, feeling hemmed in and lying on the 'ground'. "It's been a while," she remarked, "But now is a really bad time." She looked around, as maybe this was an opportunity to grab her crest, and tried to stand up, but failed. She looked behind her. Chains were encircling her and pulsing with a black light. With each pulse, she felt herself grow a little colder.

  
  


"I'm sorry. It was not my attention, but this is not the same darkness you are used to," said the older voice of Kindness. "This is.. defilement." She continued wearily, and Jessica noticed that one of the walls was starting to glow. "Yes, the barrier is breaking down in between us as we weaken. It has hurt you greatly, and cut you off from the outside world, but has allowed both of us to grow to a great extent." 

  
  


"The barrier. I'm starting to think it wasn't a totally bad thing," Jessica remarked, struggling with the chains. She continued, "Without it, I've felt once or twice just being able to hear everything going on. I don't think I could live like that."

  
  


"You couldn't," confirmed Kindness, "At least, not yet. I'm not truly the Digital World, and I don't know exactly what it has planned for you, but I believe that we both needed time."

  
  


"Now would be a good idea to start explaining yourself, since I seem to be stuck. Time for what?" asked Jessica.

  
  


"Time to grow," said Kindness fondly, "I"ve watched over you your whole life, Jessica. But at the beginning, I was just an idea. Even through the darkness, your actions helped focus and shape me. I'm a representation of an abstract now, but with the powers, such as they are, of the abstract. That abstract helps make up the Digital World, but my powers are your powers. The barrier blinds you from me to keep you safe. We're the same person, I'm just a fragment, or a conscious. Right now, though, you're not the only one chained. Darkness binds me, and something else is starting to feed on the basis of the Digital World, and me with it. Look at the chains," the spirit commanded.

  
  


Jessica tore her eyes away from trying to make out the figure to crane her neck. Dark light pulsed along her chains, but they met and paralleled another set that glowed pink. Each traveled through that past of least resistance Jessica remembered from her last visit to the depths of her mind. Strangely, she didn't feel that dark presence from last time. She wasn't sure who it was instead, as she wasn't good at naming minds. "Who are they?" she asked.

  
  


Kindness sounded confused, "I can feel Serenity, though she goes by the name Darkness for now, and Sincerity very clearly. Love is faint, and the others are just sort of there for now. I don't know exactly who they are. Even if you met them, they were bound like you, us, back in the real world." 

  
  


"Right," she said absently, trying to focus down the chains. There were many voices, a few enraged, many muted and trying to struggle free. A few others were looking for the source of the problems. She blinked in surprise at something she sensed there.

  
  


"If Jessica was here," thought a voice, "She'd figure out how to untangle this web before all of us die." 

  
  


A weaker voice replied, "You've come far enough along to sense everything. Why you consider to insist your Darkness, I won't understand, but we'll beat this, Angie."

  
  


"Angie!" yelled Jessica mentally. There was a quick paroxysm of confusion.

  
  


"You're here to," Angie said sadly, "But aren't you in the real world?"

  
  


"I don't have time to explain. There's a big Mega attacking, and I need to get out of here and seal it up," said Jessica. Her eyes narrowed as she felt remorse coming from one of them. "Angie, you didn't get so caught up in doing something to help, you didn't think 'long-term', did you?" Jessica said threateningly.

  
  


"Finding out the reason your personality the way it is due to a mind-altering spell and possession by a Digital spirit has helped your confidence, I see," said Angie wryly. A sort of mental head shaking followed. "Sorry, it's hard for me to stay so serious and alarmed."

  
  


"You must be Serenity then," noted Jessica, "do you know what's happening?" 

  
  


"Wait," said the other voice, "I'm Eiko by the way, but I think I'm getting a suggestion. The barriers are under our control now, due to the Wall. That's why Jessica, who Angie's told me about, can push hers back to an extent. Just let them drop for a moment, and maybe we can figure out what's going on." 

  
  


"If we weren't all about to die from getting drained out, I'd say you were crazy," said Angie, "We're probably going to go insane, and we probably won't remember a lot besides the necessary details."

  
  


"Good," chorused the other two, "I want my mind to stay its own, what's left of it anyway." Shame filtered over from Kindness, but Jessica ignored it. "I can feel others there, can they help?"

  
  


"They're not as introspective," commented Angie, "But I'll see what I can do. They're plenty good people really. We've been hanging out with the wrong crowd, but there's no time. I can feel myself getting colder. Hang on, and just open yourself up." Jessica did as ordered, though it took several tries before the barrier fell down. 

  
  


Jessica's internal clock kept going, and it was about five seconds later when the world resorted and she started tracking. She had felt Kindness settle into herself, like a limb that had fallen asleep and suddenly awakened, and then there was too much going on. She had felt everything. Herself, weakening and being drained. Hikari struggling as she felt the screams of the Digital World massed. Picking out each individual plea for help in the Digital World, and worse of all, being forced to see everything inside herself. All the little insults she had done and hurts she had caused over the years. There probably less than there were for most people, but they were still there. Tears streaked silently down her face.

  
  


"Are you two," the mental voice cracked, "At least here? All right isn't the right phrase to use." 

  
  


Angie said wearily, "I'm so sorry Jessica. I didn't know about the lack of Wargreymon." 

  
  


"It's all right, and I think what I see what you meant about Darkness, but that can wait," said Jessica, "We take out your problem, and Blackwargreymon's a snap. Heck, you said you felt an echo of you in the field struggling to get out, so maybe Mr. Kamiya's crest power is there."

  
  


"Good idea," said Angie warmly, and a bit taken by surprise, "I wouldn't have thought of that. But how do we get out. We're being drained, our powers are being drained. Not by the same people, and I'm wondering who the second is."

  
  


"Doesn't matter," said Eiko, "They're draining two different things, so one thing won't solve the problem. Unless we could reroute both away. The Holy Beasts kept hold even when we focused everything on one point in the containment field. They can keep draining our mystical energy, and something has our life energy too. I doubt I can stand up even if we succeed at this point." Eiko's voice was tremulous. There was a limit to how long they could ignore that they were resting on the world's balance point, and they were physically down, mentally exhausted, and spiritually drained.

  
  


Angie said, "Well, maybe we could cross the streams, as it were, and confuse them." 

"Actually, that might work," said Jessica. Here, her mind was working better than it had outside. She'd probably only know when the final exhaustion over took her when everything just stopped. "The Holy Beasts are really greedy, and everyone's sucking up energy. If something disturbs the flow, maybe they'll stop paying attention long enough to disrupt the flow." 

  
  


"Nothing else to try," remarked Eiko, "The others are listening in, faintly. I'll try and talk to them." Several moments passed, and then Eiko said, "Get with your 'better halves' you two, and then hope you can move the chains enough." 

  
  


Jessica turned to look at the weary figure beside her. The barrier was breaking down as their energy drained, as something of them went into maintaining it. Jessica knew, after everything that had happened today, she probably wasn't going to wake up for a week except for psychotherapy. She could see shimmering pink and white garments, and what looked like angelic wings. "On 'one', all right? I'm not sure I'll be around for three," she said. Kindness nodded back. 

  
  


The two immediately tried rolling down towards what was draining them. Stopping to struggle, they started to get pulled in easily. However, this gave them some slack, and the two started to roll towards the barrier. From their points of view, it was a bit like a mirror. Closing their eyes, they hit the barrier, but it didn't break. Jessica felt something snap, and started to lose consciousness. However, it was enough for the two chains, continuing on momentum, to feed hungrily on the barrier than each other. The same scene was carried out in six other places, more or less.

  
  


************

  
  


Gennai's eyes widened in horror. More power had started to flow through him, but then the life energy had been added to by the sharper tang of Digital power. Then he felt a deep hunger rushing over him. The Four Holy Beasts had far greater appetites than he could manage, and they started to drain him instead. Rapidly aging, Gennai collapsed and stopped the connection. The darkness immediately began to recede from the ice-encased bodies.

  
  


However, it was enough. With all four draining the same line apparently of life energy, the four Holy Beasts didn't notice they were starting to feed on each other momentarily. Feeling a far greater power source than trying to drain the last vestiges from the Digital World, the four fell into it for a moment. A few sparks, sent by the Spirits last gasp before fading into somnolence along with their hosts, made it out of the containment field and into the portal before the Holy Beasts wised up. So much of the Digidestined's success had been last minute chances, and yet another had succeeded as the sparks floated up into the portal towards the Real World. They weren't much, but it was enough.

  
  


************

  
  


"Jessica's an ice cube, Hikari's out of it, and Blackwargreymon looks angry enough to take out the area," Guilmon complained. "And I'm getting hungry!"

  
  


"Nice to see your priorities, big guy," Allen commented. Blackwargreymon had decided for now to send dark bolts of chaos and corruption, waiting to continue feeding off the death of the Digital World. Jessica glinted in the lightning beginning to flash through the clouds. Allen's head felt like it was going to fall off from everything going on. He had felt something surge through the gate, but he wasn't sure what. He was starting to wish he'd focused more on Jessica's mysticism, and less on being able to swipe many cards.

  
  


A small shower of sparks would have gone unnoticed, except they were astonishingly bright in the darkening sky. They settled around Jessica like fireflies for a moment, before the ice and darkness suddenly shattered. Blackwargreymon went stumbling backwards as the darkened vortex in front of him settled into the view of a shimmering ball of energy. The Digivices and D-Powers went back to life faintly.

  
  


Jessica looked at her hand as energy surged through her for a moment. As the glow faded, the card in front of her turned to crystal for a moment. Crystalmon looked at her, and she felt the Digimon's presence immensely, but she couldn't keep up the output, and the crystal faded, leaving two cards. "One final gift," whispered Kindness, "I'm too tired to do more for now. Use them wisely." 

  
  


"Brave shield and digivolution," she noted. "All right, big and ugly!" she shouted bravely. Crystalmon looked at her in surprise. She had been locked out when Jessica was in the ice, and it had been terrifying. She was briefly wondering where this girl had come from. Jessica looked at her partner with infinitely weary eyes. "No time to explain now, old friend. Fly over to Allen and ask him to use this. I doubt there's more than one card swipe for each of us. I'll give you a little boost first. I hope I stay awake to see this, though."

  
  


Crystalmon's eyes widened. There was parts of a plan floating in Jessica's head, but it was greatly distorted. The terrible pressure on the Digital World had eased up for the moment, and with the energy flowing more freely, Jessica was planning to grant it to Crystalmon. "Stop, Jessica! That's too draining! You're nearly dead!"

  
  


"Blackwargreymon won't let you make it alive otherwise. Please, Crystalmon. This is more than us!" Crystalmon reluctantly nodded. Jessica didn't have a death wish, or she'd never have made it to as old as she was. Jessica took a deep breath, and prayed as she said, "Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!" The card swiped through the reader. The new data upload made the D-Power crackle with energy. To the horror of several powerful Megas, white energy balls split out of their sphere, heading through the portal and beginning to circle Crystalmon. 

  
  


"Digivolution!" stated the D-Power flatly. An egg appeared on the screen before bands of light encircled Crystalmon. 

  
  


Data spread off from Crystalmon, allowing her form to be rewritten. After a moment, the egg collapsed inwards with added data to stabilize her structure. She was still a dragon, but she had a proud mane of white hair. Her scales were more iridescent than white, and silver claws glinted evilly at each foot. Her tail had split into two whip-like structures, merging halfway up. She was around twenty-five feet long, about two-thirds of that neck and tail. Proud wings jutted out to either side, and large ridged fins flowed down her back, ending in the tail. There were spikes around each of her ankles. "Crystalmon, digivolve to Chromamon!" she bellowed triumphantly. 

  
  


Jessica collapsed like a sack of potatoes, Chromamon reaching out to cushion the fall by grabbing her. The dragon checked for a pulse, and after finding one, lovingly set her down, taking the card. "I won't fail you, Jessica, or anyone else!" she promised, before flapping off mightily.

  
  


A champion was enough for even the idiotic Blackwargreymon to sit up and take notice. Chromamon wasn't especially fast. There was only a few thousand feet, but it would take her perhaps a minute to cover the distance to Allen. Blackwargreymon roared, and flew at her. Chromamon's emphasis was on maneuverability, and she tucked her wings in and sideslipped out of the way, Blackwargreymon's Dramon destroyers tearing up the Earth. 

  
  


"Chromamon," read Allen, "A Holy Beast, Champion level. Says her attacks are plasma ball and argent clawstrike." Tai nodded in understanding. Allen looked up, "She's beautiful." 

  
  


"And what am I?" Guilmon asked indignantly.

  
  


"I'll say you're cool if you keep giving Chromamon some cover fire," Allen suggested. Guilmon started and started throwing pyro spheres at Blackwargreymon, who was trying to get his claws out of the steel plating. Chromamon took that opportunity to fly over.

  
  


"Allen! Use this! Jessica wanted it done!" Chromamon set the card down.

  
  


Agumon peered at it before Allen took it up, "Hey! I know that. When I'm Wargreymon, I carry that around on my back." 

  
  


Allen nodded determinedly, and explained, "She probably wanted this shield. Maybe we can reflect it off, or something. All right, Guilmon, we're going to run out there and use it to take him out with his own attack!" Tai grabbed the boy's arm before he could swipe the card.

  
  


"I have a better idea," Tai said with a faint smile, "Why not let someone whose Mega form is part of that card deal with it. I'm use to dodging big attacks." Tai had his old devil-may-care grin on, and explained, "I've got longer legs. Someone needs to get to Jessica. That energy globe doesn't look friendly."

  
  


Allen sighed, "Well, I'm Japanese. I'm lousy at saying no to my elders. Guilmon, after I do this, give it to Agumon." Guilmon nodded. "Digi-modify!" Allen yelled. The screen on the D-Power brightened in preparation, prepared to give it its last, "Wargreymon's brave shield!" The massive golden armor, emblazoned with the crest of courage, was balanced precariously in Guilmon's claws.

  
  


"Here you go!" Guilmon said cheerfully, handing the weight easily to Agumon, who staggered before bracing himself. "Don't get yourselves killed!" Agumon and Tai nodded, before charging out with a berserker yell.

  
  


****************

  
  


Zhuquiaomon roared in fear, "Something is going wrong! The Crest of Courage has started to stir!" The light balls had been bad enough, but this was the loss of a crest. Without all of them to stabilize the spell, they would lose everything. Already fire was striking along the insides.

  
  


"I cannot contact Gennai!" said Azulongmon, "He has been struck down!" The holy beasts looked at each other nervously. Gennai was nearly as powerful as them. What could have happened?

  
  


"Recall him!" yelled Baihumon. Azulongmon nodded. It would take some power away, but that was nothing to the coming catastrophe. With a flare of light, Gennai appeared. Now, instead of being nervous, the Holy Beasts were terrified. Gennai had become old and withered again. This could possibly mean he had broken the youth spell and regained his independence from them. Gennai knew more about the Digidestined than anyone, having created the current Digivices when the Holy Beasts had been imprisoned. If he ordered a strike against him, millions would come to fight.

  
  


Ebonwumon broke his silence, "We must strike now, brothers! Before all is lost. Even if we are not ready, we can buy thousands of years. More than enough time to heal!" Azulongmon didn't nod with the others, risking a glance at the ominous black vortex first before reluctantly nodding. The fire inside the globe was starting to coalesce, and that could mean an explosion. "Now! Strike with all your fury, Soul of the Digital World!" roared Ebonwumon as he got the approval and silent support of the three others. 

  
  


What happened next was a complete surprise. What should have happened was a beam of energy pouring from the sphere, annihilating everything in its path. Instead, an animalistic growl sounded from inside. A golden figure jumped out of the sphere, followed by a beam of energy. A faint Wargreymon pierced the vortex with contemptuous ease, wiping it away. Azulongmon could just make out other humanoid figures within the beam. "They're all lose!" he said in horror. Indeed it was so. Inspired by Courage, the spirits bound to the various crests, in the forms of their old Ultimates or Megas made their way to freedom. Wargreymon continued to arc through the sky, before disappearing in a flash of light. When the energy reached that height, it started to spread out into a dome, though bits of it started to fall down like rain. 

  
  


"It is over, my brothers," Azulongmon stated with finality. "We still have the body in our grasp, but we have lost the soul completely for now. The unfinished prophecies have begun." The others nodded in agreement. As much as they'd like to deny it, this plan had failed. "Our only consolation is that this energy will indeed buy the Digital World enough time to begin our fallback plans. Come," he said with delight. The others would be lost, but he had control now. "We shall leave. Bring the Guardian, and we must plan for other days." The three others nodded quickly and subserviently, padding away without a second glance towards the emptying energy sphere.

  
  


**************

  
  


And what of Wargreymon? Tai had charged forward. Recognizing the strength of the shield, but not the purpose, Blackwargreymon gave his best shot to his shield. Tai roared defiantly as the bolt approached. When it struck, the explosion nearly deafened him, but he'd be damned if he backed down after everything else. He would die as he should have lived. He was, however, very surprised to find him and Agumon still intact when the energy passed. 

  
  


Instead of the shield, however, there was a ghostly figure of Wargreymon. He smiled paternally at the two, before fading into Agumon. Tai felt a sudden warmth on his chest, and looked down in shock to see the crest symbol shining there for the first time in years. "All right, Agumon! Let's do it for old time's sake! Warp-digivolve!"

  
  


A massive beam of orange energy enveloped Agumon, who quickly grew through his various stage. When the energy passed, a massive red-haired figure, slightly scaly under his proud armor, waited there calmly. He held up his hands, armed with their mighty clawed wrist guards, and Blackwargreymon roared. Challenge given and accepted. 

  
  


Wargreymon didn't even bother with his claws or attacks on the first round, simply rearing back and punching with all the anger he had felt for not simply cutting through the compromises over the years, and watching Tai shield himself from the world. Blackwargreymon went sliding through the air to impact against a mountain. "It's good to cut loose," he rumbled, before taking to the skies.

  
  


On the ground, Allen smiled as his D-Power shone again with steady light. Chromamon, however, was going to gather up Hikari and Jessica, and after a few minutes (during which Wargreymon was happily playing both sides of a tennis match, with Blackwargreymon as the ball), deposited them near Allen. Both had regained conscious, but Hikari looked too exhausted to do much more than breathe.

  
  


"How did you know it would work?" Allen asked after explaining everything. 

  
  


Jessica shrugged and smiled, "I didn't. I started to crack things open, but you evidently gave Mr. Kamiya the key, by giving him something Wargreymon could find his way back too." Jessica smiled happily, "This was much more of what I was expecting from him."

  
  


Allen was shocked, "You nearly killed the world's greatest hero on a theory with holes big enough to fit a Holy Beast through?" Allen winced at the selection, "Maybe I don't want them poking holes in the theories right now. We really need to sit down and have a massive planning session. Who knows who our enemies are?" 

  
  


Jessica pointed up at the sky, where Wargreymon was chasing Blackwargreymon across the sky. "I'd like to take that guy out. From what I remember, he's going to block the Digital World's full restoration, though that could take years, until he's taken out. Plus, it'll probably help the last of poor Hikari's headache." Allen nodded at that, and pulled out a Digivolution card and quickly swiped it at Guilmon's nod. 

  
  


"Digivolution," stated a computerized voice for the second time.

  
  


Once again rings flew out from a D-power, but this time they were red. "Guilmon, digivolve to Growlmon!" roared the massive dinosaur once he had returned from a wireframe state. 

  
  


After making sure Hikari was comfortable, the two mounted their partners. Growlmon could only hop along the ground, but Wargreymon wasn't a very fast Digimon in the air, and Chromamon quickly caught up. Wargreymon grinned. "If you guys managed to recover." Jessica didn't think so, but didn't say anything as the Mega continued, "You definitely deserve to be on this. Mega claw!" roared the Digimon, spiraling into a tornado and leaping ahead, digging into the shield on Blackwargreymon's back and ripping it to shreds, as well as causing some of the oil the Construct used for blood to begin to drip out. 

  
  


Growlmon roared down below, hurrying up to get to a point where he could be in range for his flame attack. Jessica noted this. "Chromamon, care to make him a little more flammable? I'm really ready for a clear victory today!" The dragon pumped harder in the air, straining herself, but getting into an attack position over the oblivious Mega. 

  
  


"Argent clawstrike!" roared the dragon, diving down to strike with suddenly glowing claws. Blackwargreymon roared as the minute damage to his flesh under the armor was greatly expanded on. An oil trace slowly fell down through the long passage to the ground. Growlmon's eyes narrowed.

  
  


"Pyro blaster!" came tinnily from below, but the flame trail that came up and exploded on Blackwargreymon's back was nearly enough to knock the Mega from the air.

  
  


"Now, to heat things up a little!" giggled Wargreymon. "Sorry," he said when the two airborne stared at him. "Let's finish this! Terra Force!" Wargreymon paused, arms spread wide to allow a massive globe of fire energy to fill the space, before he tossed it forward.

  
  


"Plasma ball!" shouted Chromamon before spitting out a ball of blue-white hot matter, powerful enough to ionize the air in its passage, judging by the ozone spell. The two fiery attacks, one holy, one just plain hot and huge, impacted simultaneously, as Chromamon's attack had a smaller buildup time. The Construct howled in agony for a moment as the fire raced through the crack in his armor, before the voice was choked off. When the inferno cleared, nothing was left but for some data. Wargreymon did a barrel roll, but picking up on the exhausted state of her passenger, Chromamon went back towards the blasted valley as the storm clouds broke, casting a few rays of sunlight down.

  
  


**************

  
  


"Have a good flight back, all of you," Tai said warmly a few hours later. They had grabbed a quick nap, and some food, but Hikari was ready to collapse from exhaustion despite the rest, but they needed to get back to the train station before Chromamon dedigivolved. Growlmon had reverted an hour ago, but he hadn't been the epicenter of a charged healing card, and he'd digivolved earlier in the day. 

  
  


"Thank you, Mr. Kamiya. Without you, we'd have lost," Allen replied.

  
  


"I'm starting to believe that having only champions would be a minor inconvenience to you," Tai stated, "Good luck on your quest. The gates are probably still down, but I'll have Greymon sit on Gennai if he doesn't do a better job tracking." Tai looked at the destroyed landscape, "So much work gone, but this is a chance to make it better," he said philosophically, "I've spent too much time up here, and cut myself off. I've lost a lot of time, and I have you three for reminding me how to spend my last years."

  
  


Jessica bowed awkwardly. She was holding up the fitfully sleeping Hikari. "Thank you for your kindness, but we have to return now. Poor Hikari needs rest and time to focus, and there's a lot going on we need to sort out." Tai nodded, and bowed back, before the group hopped on Chromamon, being careful of the spikes.

  
  


Jessica managed to make it out of sight before the tears of exhaustion and stress fell down her face. She had found her friend, but there were all sorts of preconceptions to deal with, and the feelings the Digital World had broadcast would haunt her for the rest of her life. With even willpower and pride to the older Digidestined no longer an issue, Jessica simply slumped over as tears ran down her face. Allen barely caught her in time.

  
  


"I don't blame you," Allen said in a comforting whisper. "Chromamon, Jessica has the right idea. Let's go home." The rest of the trip to the train was silent but for the flap of wings under the starlit sky.

  
  


To be continued....

  
  


It took a month. There were four separate major rewrites, and I just wanted to get things done that the tone sounds a bit hurried in some places because I wanted to get something decent through. I knew how I wanted things to go after Jessica broke free of the ice, and much of the internal sequence talking to the other Digidestined. You should meet the rest of the group, hinted at this time, in the next chapter.

  
  


It should come out faster. Finals are coming, which will slow things down, but this heavily philosophical piece that dealt with many of the initial arc pieces has been dealt with, at long last. Now it's time to start the next arc, and finish wrapping up this one.

  
  


Please review. Something better than this is really long would be nice. ^_^

  
  


Next time: We see what happened with the Digital World as Demon's little chosen ones begin their training in earnest. The Holy Beasts begin to pay more attention to the campaign, while in the Real World, Jessica and Allen struggle to help Hikari deal with the first days with a D-Power. Connections to the past start to be established as the groups make a better contact than a near-death experience. Sometime soon! 


	8. Lady Devimon's Secret

Crystal Tamers

  
  


by Tremor3258 

  
  


Lady Devimon's Secret! A Quiet Respite

  
  


(Chibi-Author note: For the record, I like that title even though it sounds like someone should be saying it while their lips aren't moving. Also, if you like this story, please review!)

  
  


Comprehensive Disclaimer: Crystal Tamers is set in the Digimon Adventures universe (that's Seasons 1 and 2). No profit is intended from this work. Some elements are taken from Tamers, and quite a bit of my information comes from the card game for attacks. I'm not sure WHO owns the Digimon rights on this side of the Pacific. Disney, maybe? I DO know I don't own it, with the exception of the poor Tamers that have had a really rough few days. 

  
  
  
  


********************

  
  


Wednesday, October 18, 2051. Last weekend, a massive disturbance was recorded on almost all Net activities. The Digital World's Guardians continue to defeat our attempts to monitor the situation there, but considering all Digital Gates were down for almost an hour leading up to the final burst, something happened. Mr. Kamiya has gone on record as requesting we subpoena Gennai, the head of the Guardians, to appear here in response to this incident, but no one has been able to contact Gennai for almost three weeks.

  
  


In something that is apparently linked to this, eighty-five percent of the children who disappeared in the area centered upon Odaiba ward in the last few months have returned over the last few days. They have no memory of whatever experiences happened in the Digital World, however some observation has shown that they are treating their Digimon less as a status symbol as they are usually seen and more on an equal level. While it is too early to say if this is merely an aberration, these children spent a month in the Digital World, and so perhaps gained a greater appreciation.

  
  


I apologize, Mrs. Secretary-General, for getting off topic. 

  
  


Transcript of Koushiro Izumi, making an emergency report to the UN Security Council in response to the events on the previous Sunday. This report is sealed under the Council's emergency by-laws, and unauthorized persons viewing it may be charged with high treason. 

(Note: released to the general public in 2078)

  
  


*******************

  
  


"Well, young lady," said the dietary specialist to Jessica, " I'm forced to admit you have me completely baffled. There's no way you should have dropped ten kilos in a few days. Your body shows no signs of malnourishment, and your tooth structure is fine, which rules out most eating disorders. Your charts indicate you tend to be a bit underweight, but your parents say that you've been doing better recently. It's like part of your body was consumed."

  
  


"Something like that," murmured Jessica into her hands. She was sitting upright in a hospital bed, head resting against her knees. The IV was just long enough to allow her to fold her arms over her legs. Her condition had been physics proving there was no free lunch. With Kindness's ability to channel energy so limited, Jessica herself had paid the price for Crystalmon's digivolution, and the victory in the Digital World. The heart had been willing, but the body had been drained. Crystalmon currently was sleeping on a chair, having suffered no ill effects from the unusual situation. Her wounds had healed up nicely.

  
  


Jessica, though, under intensive eating and tubes running into her, had gotten back up to the weight she had been when she had been suffering from her near-terminal depression. She was as white as a sheet and tired, but hopefully another week would get her back in shape. The heavy training she had been going through had helped her get accustomed to being drained of almost all her energy. 

  
  


Still, she had been glued to the news and books for the last few days. Her parents wouldn't let her have a computer, as it was possible that with the passage between worlds being so unstable recently, her D-Power might actually work as a transfer. The news stories of people being back cheered her up immensely, but she was worried, as Allen and Hikari had been on their short visits, about the remaining people. It seemed for the time being the world was ready to breathe a sigh of relief and let them be swept under the rug of public opinion.

  
  


Hikari's Digivice transformation had been unexpected. Hikari hadn't been able to really describe the situation, being scared out of her mind and worried for her partner. That was a normal state for plenty of people with Digimon always engaging in brawls. It also didn't help that Hikari had gotten a little of what Jessica had, and was sensing the flow of Digital power. It was useful for detecting evil Constructs, Digimon hiding in shadows, and instabilities in the fabric of space and time, but it was also akin to having rain occasionally pelt you on a clear day. It didn't do any damage, but it was enough to make you stop and look around. Hikari had confided, once she knew Jessica would recover, that she had been having serious trouble sleeping in the last few days. 

  
  


Jessica noted the bags hanging under her eyes, and said warmly, "Relax. I'll be out of here and getting you the training for this." Hikari nodded eagerly in relief. Allen was willing to help her focus and recover more quickly from the various little jolts (some of the nastier people at school were starting to wonder if she had come down with epilepsy), but he experienced a twinge when a Construct showed up, but generally unless there was a major disruption, the Digital World didn't bother him. 

  
  


Jessica was glad for the gifts the D-Power had given her. The bond she shared with Crystalmon was far deeper than with Slithermon, and she could even occasionally hear the Vaccine's thoughts. In Jessica's mind, the bizarre Digivice had been the light that had guided her out of her own personnel hell. Breaking the never-ending chain of depression that probably would have ended with her fished out of Tokyo Bay was a miracle, and even worth the price she was paying: Her sensitivities were expanding from merely feeling nearby Constructs. Most of it wasn't bad. Crystalmon and most other Digimon in the real world had a nice warm feeling from knowing they were with their soul mate. Unfortunately, the tears in space-time that humanity used felt like a dagger in her gut. The D-3s tore reality asunder temporarily, breaching the barrier that had been established between the two worlds for millennia. The fact that the Gates weren't on-line and transport didn't seem possible didn't mean that reality on this side was warped. Jessica wasn't sure why the barrier was there, as whenever something major offset one world, the other world was heavily affected. There had been near continuous thunder storms since the disastrous Sunday, and metrology around the world was only now settling back into definable patterns.

  
  


Still, though D-3s were being less commonly introduced, there were still plenty of them, and each one felt like a little canker sore in her mind. Though the pattern was worrisome. Angie had said that the mythical Holy Beasts were draining energy, which is why the Digital World had seemed lifeless, and may even explain why partner Digimon, at each level, were barely stronger than the wild sort in general. No one really knew where the Digivices got their power. Jessica thought she knew where the D-Powers operated from, but they were under a different set of rules.

  
  


None the less, if the Holy Beasts were cutting back energy expenditures for partners AND were connected to the D-3s, why did they create objects that continued to disrupt the Digital World. The balance of that plane had been the whole reason the Digidestined had fought and nearly died across several years. If the Holy Beasts were willing to toss that goal out the window (rather than go draft the humans, which had seemed the preferred approach) , it meant a profound change in the Digital World's administration. Considering the entire Digital World had nearly died last weekend, with humans being barely aware of the situation, was terrifying from a humanitarian point of view to their sentient data-formed counterparts, as well as self-interest. They could easily be next. 

  
  


****************

  
  


Demon, partly recovered from the second worse experience in his life (the first had been a realization that he had accidently traveled within a hundred meters of the Dark Ocean's master) was busy sulking. It wasn't easy to tell, as the thick, rune-embroidered robes the Viral Mega favored swathed everything but his sky-blue eyes into shadow. Still, Marinedevimon had spent the last few years working for Demon, and the way Demon was irritably fiddling with what he was carrying screamed out that Demon really wanted to break something. 

  
  


Still, Marinedevimon couldn't leave the area and let Demon vent. In the process of healing, Demon's dark energies were more prominent than usual, and someone needed to obscure the Mega's signature. Lady Devimon was working on helping the Tamers (the name the older group was calling themselves after the weekend, for some reason) achieve focus. Skullsatomon was busy baby-sitting the younger four, who were already displaying impressive powers. Though Skullsatomon was lousy with children and teaching, he was the only one strong enough to survive Hope, Light, Miracles, and Fate if they got annoyed with their keeper on the long march. 

  
  


With that irritable thought in mind, Demon considered letting go of the patience that had kept him alive for the last fifty years just for blowing something up really good. He didn't though, as the last time he had gotten cocky, the Digidestined had blown him into the Dark Ocean. Still, the Digimental of Darkness was making a very tempting target right now for a little high intensity hellfire barbecue.

  
  


Demon sighed and stuck the orb back into the pack that was on his back. The group had hitched a lift on a group of Ikkakoumon that Marinedevimon knew. Now they were marching across Server to one of Demon's prepared backup bases. He had an old, well, comrade-in-arms was the best term, there ready to continue the training.

  
  


(Chibi Author's Note: Convenient Packs of Marine Digimon: A staple feature on Digimon since about Adventures 01) 

  
  


Still, the Digimental was problem after problem. After being forced to evacuate Demon's base, the one he had hoped to use as his army's staging ground later, and leaving behind a great deal of supplies as well, nearly dying was a drag. Finding out that the Guardian had nearly killed them all while they were incapacitated was horrifying. Still, finding that the Digimental of Darkness, connected vaguely by prophecy to what was happening now, had stopped responding to any stimulus left the group in mild confusion. 

  
  


The danger couldn't be past. The Guardian had seen them all, and the Holy Beasts still lived. Even if they were weakened, they would soon recover their strength. Not even Demon and all the troops he had gathered could stop the four Megas with all their Digicores when the Holy Beasts were at full power, and no one knew where the Holy Beasts slept and rested when they weren't out draining the Digital World's energy to attack a realm that was safely secured from the Digital World by the Firewall.

  
  


For that matter, Demon had seen their power progression so far, and by his calculations, it would be several months before Demon could risk putting his human/partner Digimon forces against the Holy Beasts with them even standing a chance of them winning. Demon's eyes narrowed as he focused on the groups up ahead. One group, had a few children walking steadily, trying very hard not to think about all the hell they'd been through the last few days. Lady Devimon hovered protectively in the air, arm-blades ready. The other group was smaller with shorter children. They crackled with energy, lighting the area around them slightly with an aura. If they were affected by the last few days, no one had the guts to ask them.

  
  


"You're worried for them, aren't you?" Marinedevimon asked quietly. Demon had been more emotional and less coldly logical since waking up. Marinedevimon was elated, remembering that fiery speaker that had recruited him to the current cause.

  
  


Demon waited for a group of Vilemon to wander their way past. Demon's eyes closed, the only real sign of emotion that could be seen due to his robes. "I'm worried about me because of a few of them." Marinedevimon nodded in response. "I'm responsible for them being here, and I feel guilty for that. Everyone else chose to join our crusade. I can't alienate them, and I can't get too close. If they're protected to strongly, their powers will develop about as well as most File Island Digimon did, prior to the Digital World rebooting fifty years ago. Leomon constantly guarded and kept the Digimon fat, happy, and mainly in-training. If he hadn't been there as the Island's paladin, Devimon probably would have faced enough decent opposition, instead of one moderately powerful champion, and never been able to gain control." 

  
  


Demon groaned slightly at himself and shifted the pack, "It's a great metaphor for the Digital World. The Holy Beasts thought the danger was past, and worked on making sure no one developed. Then someone corrupted the Digital World's giant reset button to breach the Wall of Fire. I think Peidmon did it, myself. He was more powerful than I was during his reign, though I've probably caught up by now, reformatting or no."

  
  


Marinedevimon was surprised, "You don't think it was the Digital World's boogymon?"

  
  


Demon laughed out loud, and stopped dead in his tracks as he tried to regain his composure. It took several minutes. "The lord of the Dark Ocean?" he said shakily, before coughing a few times. His voice was firmer as he continued, "You weren't there. I was. I'm not sure the dark lord is even a Digimon. He had enough power to take scraps from the Data World and create a twisted version of our home plane. He's managed to actually overlap that realm onto our own, though admittedly the Firewall wasn't at full integrity then. He unleashed the Dark Masters, and converted our entire plane into a form that would make conquering the Earth easier." Demon shook his head, and finished quietly, "Apocalypmon's power works only when no hope is left. The greatest power of the Digivices comes as extensions of the will of their holders. The activated Digivices filtered Apocalypmon's power, allowing the Dark Masters' traces to be wiped away while retaining the current framework of our home. The 'undersea lord' would not use something so easy to counter. Apocalypmon may have been the first to cross the Wall, but something big and bad had to activate the Lord of the Endless Night."

  
  


"Wait: you're saying that, just possibly, the mere presence of the Dark Ocean's leader in the general area of the Digital World was considered a great enough threat to activate the Digital World's final subroutine?" Marinedevimon asked. The Ultimate shrugged and said happily, "I'm glad we only have to fight the Holy Beasts. After all, they lost to Darkness before."

  
  


"Agreed," noted Demon, "And I hoped the children would overcome the Darkness that gave them time to develop their minds, but after seeing the result," Demon waved at the glowing four, and said glumly, "Frankly, humans accepting the Darkness may be less dangerous in the long run, even if it keeps the Holy Beasts in charge." 

  
  


Demon started to walk faster, as he noted the general pace had slowed to match his while he talked. Marinedevimon scurried to keep up and obscure the injured Mega's aura. Demon asked over his shoulder, "As for not fighting that foe of all life in the Dark Ocean? Marinedevimon, I found a spell that allowed me to easily corrupt regular humans and partners in the real world. With the Digital World's in equilibrium, at least for the moment, I can no longer remember that spell." Marinedevimon gulped. Their hopes to defeat shadowy figures and bright tyrannical Megas were children, the most powerful of which now seemed mere mouthpieces for larger forces. How safe were they?

  
  


*************

  
  


"I fear for my very existence," Koji Amerats said, gesturing at the group of younger children. He was about 156 cm, and maybe 63 kilos, with sandy brown hair and dark, almond eyes. His expression was almost permanently worried. At eleven, he was the youngest in Lady Devimon's group of Tamers. He was, also, apparently, the holder of Knowledge's spirit. That was another worry. He was, supposedly, supposed to know what to do with the thing, but not one of the older kids had been able to reconstruct the sequence that led to victory last weekend. Koji was having trouble keeping the younger ones separated, but he was pretty sure it was Hope who said, "The spirits provide," and then left it at that. His Agumon thoughtfully reached up and patted him on the back reassuringly. 

  
  


"Yup!" said John Matthias cheerfully, though quietly, "They give me chills too!" Thirteen years old, tall, muscular, and another Odaiba resident, being the person whom Angie and Jessica had admired for his body but not his intelligence a month ago. He was the bearer of Courage. His bravado quickly deflated when one of the four looked over at them. John took a deep breath, though the air was suddenly colder, and called out, "Listen, we're supposed to be a team, right? This is kind of embarrassing to say, but I think I don't remember your names. All I know is Light and Fate are girls, and Hope and Miracles are guys." 

  
  


Lady Devimon, flapping around slowly, smirked, "Is there going to be a test on this later, John?" Veemon shot an angry glare up at her, and she shrugged. "Sorry," she said, more apologetically, "Being around a bunch of people you recently brainwashed makes you nervous." She muttered more quietly, "And then there's the fact that YOU'RE all partnered." 

  
  


One of the children by Skullsatomon intoned, loud enough to make everyone jump, "Names matter not. When the time comes, you will know." The small group sped up ahead, Skullsatomon racing to keep up and try and keep them from being tracked.

  
  


"For the love of the kami, they're scaring me almost as much as what went on this weekend!" said Eiko, shivering. When everyone glared at her, she said defensively, "I forgot the current rules in effect. Sorry. Um, pretty nice weather?" she said. 

  
  


"We can't keep it ignoring it for ever," Michael Saeki said. He had been caught up in a craze for Westernized first names, and was the oldest of the bunch. "Or would you rather deal with it all at once like we did at the fire wall?" Everyone winced at the memories of being exposed to all the wrong decisions and regrets of years in just a few moments.

  
  


Lady Devimon said it bluntly, "This whole situation sucks." Eiko's eyes opened wider at the profanity, but Lady Devimon didn't see and probably didn't care. "You're too young for this. We're all to young for this," she muttered darkly. Due to the reformatting, you could count the number of Digimon older than fifty-three on both fingers and toes. While there had been enough of an energy burst left over to get quite a few former ultimates back up to their former levels, they were lacking in battle experience. It was possible that the Holy Beasts were older than the existence of a numbering system in the Digital World. 

  
  


Lady Devimon knew Demon and probably Skullsatomon were from that group. She had been picked up, as a mere Nyaramon, confused and helpless in a slowly dying world, several years ago. She had volunteered, and she had done massive amounts of training to work her way up to one of his top agents. These children had the potential for great power, but they were drafted. True, it was a time-honored Digital World tradition, but Lady Devimon had been torn away from everything she was expecting once.

  
  


Demon knew, though no one else did. Primary Village was still the source for Digimon, even those to be born to a partner. The connection was set at birth, and a tiny Snowbotamon had been hopping towards Primary Village's link up. Something had failed at the last moment, and the connections went down. When they came up again two days later, Snowbotamon reached out, only to find her connection to her partner had been blocked. Destiny is something Digimon believe in far more than humanity, as a whole. To be cut off from it was a terrible thing.

  
  


Demon, however, had happened by the young Digimon upon his return from the Dark Ocean. His attempt to gather the Dark Spores to match the Holy Beasts power had failed disastrously. His few henchmon had been destroyed brutally by the Digidestined, and he had barely escaped with his life from Imperialdramon, fighter mode. The powers the 'undersea master' possessed would have impressed Peidmon, who had once claimed total dominion of the entire Digital World. However, there had also been several small artifacts and scrolls that showed Demon a way to open the Digital World administration to new comers, as well as deal with certain disquieting overheard remarks that the Digital World was dying.

  
  


Demon had his own strengths driven home to him by his failure. He could organize quite a bit better than most Viral Megas. Most of the Viruses (Viri?) who got to that level were fairly rational individuals, but Demon achieved far greater loyalty from his minions. That has inspired a small In-training to work her way up to Ultimate, the highest level could hope to achieve. Having power was a perk of that level, the Viruses were just generally a bit more open about it. 

  
  


Lady Devimon grinned, showing a few small fangs. And when you got a Virus with the raw ferocity of that type, combined with an ability to work in groups like the Datas, and as inspired as the Vaccines, really good things happened, like getting the traditional enemy of evil Digimon agreeing to work towards defeating the Holy Beasts. This move would probably put Demon in charge, but he was most definitely the lesser of five evils. 

  
  


"You're thinking about Demon, aren't you? You're blushing," said Eiko, who was standing near her Palmon. A green-tinted D-Power was wrapped around her wrist, as she lacked a belt for the clip. After the rather bizarre series of events, the Tamers and Digidestineds clothes had been reformed to their thoughts, leaving them wearing Shinto-style robes, though they were all completely bleached white. Most still had D-3s, but Angie was wearing a D-Power as well. No one wanted to ask the younger four. 

  
  


Margaret Downing huffed irritably, "I thought Digimon couldn't do that." She wasn't adapting well to the situation. She had been highly respected and powerful back in the real world. She had been doing real good. Now she was going for some bizarre training and being thought of as a neophyte. A potentially very talented one, but still, a mere newbie. The fact that Allen had suddenly stepped into the limelight, and thrown everything away to be gallivanting with card games was double annoying. 

  
  


Lady Devimon settled down on the ground with a whisper of wings, and spitted Margaret with a glare. "No, not really," she said. "I was mainly thinking about our crusade, and how you've been drafted." The children looked down as the term was finally spoken aloud. Lady Devimon said desperately, "I know you got thrown into this right when you could reason clearly, and we need to work hard if we're even going to survive, but is there anything I can get you? It'd be nice to send you home, but the Guardian has ties with Earth's governments." 

  
  


Everyone was quiet for several more minutes of walking. "Where to begin?" said Angie, "I'd like to see our families again. I mean, yes they've made a mess of things, but still," Angie trailed off sadly. It was worrying that she still called herself Darkness, when the others insisted that wasn't the proper term. The dark angel nodded in agreement. She wasn't quite familiar with the feelings, but she had read up on the term. "Cards, come to think of it, would be good. Jessica's mind wasn't clear, but these things," she gestured to the D-Power, "Need them to work." 

  
  


"It's not going to be easy to get you back. Defending yourselves isn't enough. You need control to not be snapped up by one of the Holy Beasts, or their agents," mused Lady Devimon. Noting the dark glares they cast down, she added, "Yes, it's a little manipulative of me to bring up that energy drain. But it's what we're fighting. We have to be better than them and focused, dreams can wait," she snapped. She said more softly, as a thought occurred to her, "I'll see about getting something set up, but it's not my decision. I'll do what I can," she promised. 

  
  


Glumly, the group continued on. There wasn't a lot of light left. Thinking about what the Digidestined had gone through, on the run from Etemon, was a lot different than living it. Lady Devimon's thoughts were elsewhere. She had once dreamed of angels, but darkness had proven her duty. Still, for a moment she saw white flashing wings as she looked towards the sun, and a tear trickled down from her eye. Who knew what things might have been if she had made it to her partner? 

  
  


*******************

  
  


In a far calmer part of the Digital World, though on the same continent, lay a small house. Built under a lake, it was incredibly hard to detect, as even Megas had overlooked it. The house was the home of the Guardian of the Digital World, and the last of the group that had created the original tags and crests, as well as creating copies of the ancient Digivices. 

  
  


Gennai was one of the oldest creatures in the Digital World who was publicly known. The Holy Beasts, most of them, were dismissed as idle legends, but everyone knew how Gennai had guided the Digidestined to their victory over Myotismon (twice) and the Dark Masters. Gods listened when he spoke.

  
  


Right now, liver-spotted hands could barely be kept from shaking as Gennai searched through the scrolls in the basement. Gennai hadn't looked through some of this information since his early training. However, he needed something to redeem himself in the eyes of the Holy Beasts, or he would have only a few months of life left, at the outside. 

  
  


The Holy Beasts did not give back easily what they had taken, and no one had expected such a clever diversion as to get the Holy Beasts to begin to drain their own appointed intermediary. That would have been taken care of, but the Crests suddenly returning to replenish the Digital World meant years of work tracking them down again, when Gennai had sworn he had easily grabbed them up when the Digidestined had released them over fifty years before. 

  
  


While the Holy Beasts infinite (presumably) life spans meant they could just try again, having lost an important tie in to those crests - the amplified powers of hope and light that had activated the Mega sequence, meant the spell was unusable. Gennai, however, had gotten a glimpse of something he half-remembered during the split second before the Holy Beast began to drain him. Combining that knowledge with the quick exposure to those D-Powers in the Real World gave him something to work on. 

  
  


Several fruitless hours were spent in the search. Finally, in a fading scroll that the order had taken as a useful guide for their Digidestined blueprint, he found what he was looking for. It was seriously likely this was the only one of its kind on the entire plane. The scroll predated Gennai's massively extended lifespan several times over, and it was a miracle it was intact.

  
  


What was left of it, anyway. It was half gone, decaying with age, and a few pixels floated off even as Gennai looked at it. Despite this, a Digivice, with a card slot on one side and an odd button in the middle, was clearly visible. Golden light looped the D-Power to several figures before the power flowed back into the Digivice, which shone with light.

  
  


"Isn't that interesting?" Gennai mused to himself, before cursing at how decrepit his voice sounded. "The Holy Beasts will like this! Amazing! Did the Digital World even think before it unleashed these?" he asked rhetorically. "It's given us the tool to ultimate domination!" Gennai cackled momentarily before he set himself to the task of recopying the scroll. His next meeting with the four would be... interesting. 

  
  


To be continued.

  
  
  
  


Author's notes: 

  
  


After the climatic events last chapter (if the entire Digital World ready to fall apart at the seams doesn't qualify, I don't know what does...), it's time to deal with the lingering complications, as well as move the story forward. I'm not sure anything actually happened, before showing that Serenity (aka Angie Misamaru, aka Darkness) and Sincerity had upgraded to D-power, as it were. Of course, the Digital World doesn't think these things through: they don't have cards! 

  
  


Oh yes, I also introduced FOUR new characters with maybe three or four lines each. Well, two new characters. John Matthias (no last name) and Margaret Downing showed up in the very first chapter. John was the basketball star that Angie and Jessica wished had a brain, and participated in the big battle where almost everyone was possessed. Margaret has a Piddomon, who dark digivolved on a regular basis. The other two were throwing some names together. For the record, if Jessica was the result of a classical naming trend (which would explain Allen, Margaret and Angie, at about the same age), I'd like to know how someone with the last name 'Silphius' is apparent pure Japanese.

  
  


You know, when these people have time to sit down and think, they're going to have the mother of all nervous breakdowns. All of them. Probably even the Digimon. 

  
  


It should be noted that the Tamers have forgiven Lady Devimon for her involvement. Evidently, considering the fact they barely pulled off a save lacking training, they feel that the rather... forced nature of their recruitment was called for. I'll go into more depth next time, but this was a quiet reflection chapter. 

  
  


Okay reviewers, people who can guess whose Lady Devimon's trainer should have been (there are a couple good, possible options) as well as who Demon's old friend that the Tamers will be training under will get big brownie points. Even if you don't have a clue, be sure to drop me a line and tell me how you think the story's going.

  
  


I do have this almost all planned out, and let me say, it's about to get even more hectic than just beating down the occasional Construct from here on out. THIS was their week of breathing space. 

  
  


Next time: The two worlds need saving once again as the tamers, at least partly recovered from the hectic events of the last few chapters, are back on duty. Confrontations abound as the two sides prepare to make contact with each other! 


	9. Digital Search pt 1: Operning Forays

Crystal Tamers! 

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Search for the Digital World, pt. 1:

  
  


Opening Forays

  
  


Disclaimer: See my previous comprehensive disclaimer for everybody, but suffice to say, I don't own Digimon.

  
  


*************

  
  


The Digimon card game, similar to the various video games, anime, and TV shows based on the adventures of the Digidestined, has gone through varying heights of popularity. Koushiro Izumi allowed his Digimon Analyzer program to be used as the basis for the various cards created, and everything the Digidestined saw or heard of during their travels was included.

  
  


The last peak of popularity was approximately five years ago, but quite a few people still have packs, and they're available if you know where to look. According to the cycle of trends, they should pick up sometime in the next few months.

  
  


September 22, 2051: Article in Time magazine as a retrospective on the Digidestined's anniversary of their return from the Digital World. 

  
  


The editors had no idea how right they were.

  
  


May 29, 2081 article in Time, relating to the Tamer Crisis

  
  


*************

  
  


"It's amazing how strong she is," Hikari heard two girls commenting after school. Tanemon was trotting along beside her. It was Friday, and it been almost eerily peaceful in the last few days. Very few duels over idiotic gestures, not a twitch out of the Digital World, and no more Constructs. Hikari paused and followed their gaze. Jessica was speaking quietly and calmly to two eight year olds who were about to let each other have it with a Koromon and a Tseunomon. Crystalmon was casually interposed between the two. 

  
  


"Yeah. I heard Jessica used to be suicidal," commented the other girl. Hikari's mouth dropped open, and she was ready to correct them. Jessica had never been suicidal. Quiet, prone to the occasional crying burst, and a bit withdrawn, these were all words one used. She had always felt guilty for failing to stop various attacks and the current survival of the fittest structure. Giving up would have just meant more guilt, not to mention feeling bad for leaving her friends and family behind.

  
  


"News to me," said the first one, "She's come a long way in the last month. I heard she met with Ambassador Kamiya, even. Still, we'd better move. She's got that gleam in her eye that means she's giving out pamphlets." The two girls, and their partners, nodded and went off.

  
  


Jessica had been meandering across the playground, pausing near where the gate Lady Devimon had used occasionally showed up, and then sighted Hikari. Jessica shouted and quickly ran over to the girl. Knocking her hair back behind her ears, Jessica said in a slightly breathy tone, "It's been a great day! I've got the general student body listening to us for once. Last weekend's activities did even more good than I thought" Jessica pouted slightly, "Though I suppose this might be because they're afraid Wargreymon will show up and attack them. I'm still working in the system."

  
  


"That's where your reforms have to start, I guess," mused Hikari. "Are you ready for today's lessons? I'm getting better, but it's still been kind of loud in here," she said, gesturing at her head.

  
  


Jessica nodded, and said, "We'll hit the park again. It's an easy quarter mile walk, and none of the gangs have been busy along those routes recently." Hikari nodded, and the two started to head off, when many, many things started to beep loudly. Jessica and Hikari looked around in confusion, but it was Tanemon who spotted the problem. Everyone was pulling Digivices or D-3s out and staring at them. Gradually, the beeping died down, while the Digivices' colors seemed to fade to dusky, shadowy blues from their original primary color. It was visible even from across the playground. "What in the seven hells?" Jessica spat out, and then apologized to Hikari, "Sorry. Too much time around Allen." Hikari shrugged. 

  
  


**************

  
  


"I hope you realize how much chaos this is going to cause in the real world, Gennai," Zhuqiaomon warned. The four holy beasts, though still weaker, had just done something that would FORCE the Real World to take notice. All the Digivices, based on an ancient design, that were powered from the Dream World, had just had their connections to that power source removed. Partner digivolution, as far as the Holy Beasts were concerned, had just ceased to exist. 

  
  


Not even Izzy had managed to track down the power connection that flowed through the Digivices, amplifying a human's desire for their partner to protect them. He wouldn't have: it was possibly the most carefully guarded secret anywhere in any dimension the Holy Beasts could touch. Now, the Digivices could do most of their activities, but they lacked the energy to digivolve.

  
  


Gennai wasn't too bothered. This was a temporary measure, as was his necessity of recalling the other Gennais in order to buy himself more time. True, the Digivices were far more vulnerable to some other source attempting to use them as a gateway, but it was unlikely anyone would discover the fact in the few days that Gennai's plan would use. "As I told you before, great one, this was necessary. The original Chosen have the energy to help their partner, which is why we chose them from among those who saw the battle. However, this is the only way to pick out the original D-Powers, if that design has truly returned. Without the interference of billions of humans, tracking the energy signatures will be easy."

  
  


Ebonwumon nodded in agreement, speaking with both heads, he said, "Yes, this is a problem to be nipped in the bud. Gennai, I wish you had brought these Digivices to our attention when you first discovered them. A new generation of Digivices, even as some random mutation caused by a trick of a person's personality, should have been reported immediately. Now, judging by our taps into the human Internet, there are already reports being circulated that these humans can tap and amplify the spirits of the Digital World." Evonwumon's eyes glowed dangerously for a moment before he continued more calmly. 

  
  


"If the Digital World cries out in such a fashion, than this is truth that the Dark Ocean encroaches us. And we have not the resources to creates crests, Digivices, and Digimon, to guide this cycle to the end we would prefer. Apocalypmon's program could reactivate at any time in such a state, and you thought they were just children!" By the end, Ebonwumon had started to glow green as his anger amplified his aura, and he was roaring loud enough to loosen small rocks from the surrounding area. 

  
  


"Yes," Azulongmon agreed and Gennai took an unsteady step backwards. Things had suddenly gotten very grim for him, "The Guardian has failed miserably. The balance spirals out of control. The D-Powers have returned from their long ago seal. You have not managed to lock down the Spirits again, nearly destroying the Digital World. We have lost the arrows of hope and light and the crest of courage. It is only a matter of time until the other crests follow. The situation is in no way contained, and you had the means of halting it early on. Gennai, you traded your honor, experience and assistance against the Darkness in exchange for increased life. That deal is now forfeit. Your life is ours. Lightning whip!" roared the eastern Holy Beast. A beam of azure light shot out from one of his front, talons, surrounding the ancient wise one for a moment in a corona of electricity before Gennai suddenly pixilated. 

  
  


Baihumon nodded sadly before saying sadly, "Thus ends the era of the Guardian. He fought long and well in our service, my brothers."

  
  


"All things but us, end in time," Ebonwumon replied. 

  
  


Baihumon paused for a moment in contemplation, and then asked, "So, we continue forward with the revised plan, then? Someone must watch the Digital World for us, while we are busy preparing the next phase. I do not believing relying on the Guardian Spirit would be a good idea."

  
  


"Do not worry, Baihumon," said Azulongmon, "We have alternate options, and the situation following the aborted Digital World's reconfiguring means there are plenty of holy Digimon to aid our cause. Oikawa need not enter into this. I will begin the call, and we will see who flocks to our banner. For now, however, we must continue to gather our strength." The four Holy Beasts agreed and began to fly back to their lairs to finish regaining their strength.

  
  


Unseen to them, a tiny butterfly flapped off a nearby ledge and set out determinedly for Server.

  
  


***************

  
  


"You know, shouldn't one of us detected something by now if something was happening to the Digivices?" Crystalmon mused. Training was canceled as the group waited by the lockers for Allen to come out for baseball practice. When one child had been seen broken down and crying as her attempt to digivolve a Gizamon failed, it had stopped being an oddity and it meant something big might be up, and most of these situations ended up involving them. "Hey!" Crystalmon said, "Why not try charging up a digivolution card? If a recharge worked for Hikari, think what a real card would do!"

  
  


Tanemon hissed slightly, and said, "Do you know how nausea-inducing it is to be constantly switching phase? I nearly lost integrity twice!" 

  
  


Crystalmon winced, "Sorry. I mean, I've digivolved ONCE, and it was pretty neat. I could sense what Jessica was sensing!" Crystalmon's glee vanished as the tiny dragon mused, "Wait: that might not be good. What happens if I get attacked?" 

  
  


"I kind of feel that anyway, Crystalmon," said Jessica, huffing. She still wasn't at one hundred percent from last week, and she shook her head, "I'm starting to figure out how Allen managed to lead a double life for so long! We can't find him even with a D-Power!" The group had made it through the school to the lockers, but Allen wasn't one of the guys who had come out.

  
  


"Hey guys," said Guilmon cheerfully, though a bit muffled, from behind them, "What's up!" As the group got their heart rates under control, Guilmon walked around to peer at them curiously as he munched on a sandwich. "You know, you should exercise more, maybe get some sun. You look really pale!"

  
  


Hikari peered at the sandwich, "Speaking of health... Those egg, bacon, ham, mayo, and cheese sandwiches are going to kill you some day." 

  
  


"Nah. There's really no such thing as a 'digicore attack'," informed Guilmon. 

  
  


Jessica shook herself, "Listen, as much fun as this is," she said, though her voice was humorless, "There's something up with most of the Digivices." Before she could continue, Guilmon's pupils narrowed to cat slits. Jessica took a step backwards involuntarily. The virus looked surprisingly feral.

  
  


"Danger," growled the Rookie, "Allen is in danger!" Guilmon roared and charged out the door towards the athletic fields. 

  
  


"You know, either his direction ability is just as bad as his taste in sandwiches," said Tanemon, "Or Allen somehow slipped past us."

  
  


One of the coaches Tapirmon commented, "Oh, Allen got sent out early to rechalk the fields, since he missed practice last week." 

The group started to run out. Jessica said, "You know, after this is done with. I'm investing in a palm pilot for e-mail messages. That, or figure out a way to sneak my cell phone into the school with it turned on." Hikari nodded in agreement.

  
  


***********

  
  


"What's with you guys?" Allen demanded as his back hit the fence. Several of his team mates were staring at him angrily, partners by their side, while the rest of the team loitered despondently, looking at their Digivices.

  
  


"You had to do something! Your Digivice changed, and then there was all the weird stuff last week, and now our Digivices don't work! We saw you take on a Skullmeramon with a Rookie. You've been draining our power!" declared the biggest of the group. A Betamon waited beside him. 

  
  


Allen blinked in astonishment at the accusation. "Um, those were all a few weeks apart, and most of the effort to get Guilmon to do those things comes from both of us. It's definitely a team effort." Allen got shoved back with a hand.

  
  


"Don't tell us that!" the leader shouted. "I know you have great strength in you, give it to us!"

  
  


Allen's eyes widened in astonishment, and he quickly focused through Jessica's exercises. His senses weren't as adept as Jessica, but at this short range, he could feel something like the smell of decay in the air. "Virus?" he asked in surprise. "Where did that come from?" The leader's eyes widened in range, and he punched Allen in the gut, who went down gasping.

  
  


"Pyro sphere!" roared Guilmon angrily, aiming his fireball to explode over his Tamer's tormentors' heads. The group broke apart slightly. The Digimon with the group growled ferally at Guilmon. The leader's Betamon quickly launched a wave of water, knocking the Virus off-balance, and the others began to move in. Jessica, Crystalmon, Hikari, and Tanemon followed, but they wouldn't get in range in time.

  
  


"Don't hurt Guilmon!" Allen yelled, and felt something twisting up from inside him. A shower of ice flew from the D-power, creating a cylindrical shield around the dinosaur. The sudden tapping of great power, combined with the stomach punch, was enough to cause his head to drop with exhaustion. He was conscious, but he wasn't about to be standing up any time soon. 

  
  


The Digimon ignored that target, and decided to pound on Guilmon's icy shield for a little while. "We'll see what's in your data, soon enough. Little Forbidden Digimon!" said the leader. Guilmon's eyes widened in confusion at the term.

  
  


"Oh, no you don't!" muttered Jessica. "Listen!" she said more loudly, "If you guys want to see the way to real power, you shouldn't be going around and beating up on helpless people." 

  
  


"Oh! The other one," the leader said, and the group felt a wave of unease fall over them. Something was wrong with him. "Let's see what you can do for us! Get her!" The group started forward. Two Betamon, a Gizamon, and two Otamamon growled. 

  
  


"Something's wrong with them," Jessica said. She held up a card dramatically, "You know. If I wanted to, Crystalmon could take all five of you with a single shot, but violence isn't an answer I like to use. Especially since those Digimon are only doing what you're asking of them." Jessica looked over the audience, "Crystalmon. We're going to the root of the problem." Crystalmon nodded her agreement. Taking out obstacles through brute force had gotten the world to where it was. And these weren't Constructs, either.

  
  


Jessica grabbed two cards. "Digi-modify!" Jessica said as she slashed a card, "Hyper-speed, activate!" Crystalmon seemed to start to blur, even though she was still. "Digi-modify! Vaccine program activate!" Crystalmon's scales, normally a creamy white, now suddenly glowed with purity. "Crystalmon: slash the partners, and hurry! I don't know how long the card will last!"

  
  


Crystalmon roared out her attack call, "Dragon-fang!" The glow intensified as the Rookie was launched forward amid holy flames. She was normally fast with this attack, but combined with the hyper-sonic, she was moving at nearly the speed of sound. Dashing through the Rookies, causing shouts of alarm from the bystanders, Crystalmon jumped in a low arc that put shallow cuts on all five trainers, before coming to a stop, panting slightly as the glow ceased. The five collapsed, and the Digimon ran to their trainers in alarm, trying to figure out what had happened.

  
  


"You can't attack partners!" someone yelled in alarm.

  
  


Jessica replied, "Why? Aren't they as much a part of battle as the Digimon?" Someone snickered. Jessica stomped her foot indignantly, "Well, that's what you think, but whose giving the orders, the energy, and everything else? You think it's wild ones who are responsible for the protection schemes?" The snickering stopped. 

  
  


Crystalmon coughed, "Um, Jessica. Minor problem in progress," she hissed. A dark mist was rising from the five, and concentrating on the unfortunate Betamon of the leader. It suddenly snapped into a dark orb, which set itself on the head. Eyes glowing red, the Betamon glowed with yellow energy that turned black, before starting to grow outwards. The trio staggered as a wave of dark power rushed out.

  
  


"Beatmon, dark digivolve to Morishellmon!" roared the now-Champion. It was basically a Shellmon, but with green colored skin, tendrils, and shell. The orb now rested in the next on top of its head.

  
  


"Morishellmon," said Hikari from off to the side, "Normally a data mollusk champion type. Attacks with Shell Pile and Slamming attack. Jessica, Crystalmon, be careful, we've seen one of those orbs before!" Jessica nodded.

  
  


"Yes, you think you have, Spirit-child?" said the enemy Champion in an eerily ghost-like voice. "That one was but a poor imitation. The seed of an idea planted into a Digimon with disgustingly noble ideas, though with a dark implementation. This is the true pearl! Slamming attack!" roared the Digimon, reaching out with one paw to squash Crystalmon, who quickly dashed to the side.

  
  


Jessica sucked on some hair for a moment as she thought. The Digimon Morishellmon was talking about sounded like Demon, but the Holy Beasts didn't use darkness. Definitely something to try and talk to someone in the Digital World about later, but for now, she needed to smash an org. "You've picked on the wrong person, Morishellmon! Crystalmon is a holy dragon Digimon! Her powers are more effective against you! Digi-modify! Offense!" 

  
  


"Shard daggers!" yelled Crystalmon, sending out the small light pinpricks from her wings. They were larger than normal, now actually about dagger size. They exploded into blue and white flame against the orb, and Morishellmon roared, clutching its head for a moment.

  
  


"Okay, this may require more effort than I thought," said Jessica. "Crystalmon, while he's distracted! Jump on top of his shell!" Crystalmon shrugged, but quickly scaled up the shell. "Digi-modify! Sheepmon!" Crystalmon's wings transformed into large launchers with smily-face warheads visible. 

  
  


"Wool grenade!" yelled Crystalmon, launching the two projectiles off. They exploded against the orb, and actually cracked it a little. MoriShellmon's headache seemed to increase. 

  
  


Jessica nodded with satisfaction. Sheepmon was Armadillomon's armor digivolution with the hope Digimental. Thus, it had some holy powers, and since it was an armor, it was a fairly weak card and didn't cost her a lot of energy to check her theory. Now, however, it was time to bring the big guns into the game, to help the offence boost. "Digi-modify! Angewomon!" Crystalmon's wings reverted back to normal, and she stood up, grabbing onto a bow that had suddenly appeared in her hands, that was apparently comprised of feathers. Crystalmon skidded down so that she was level with Morishellmon's head from behind.

  
  


"Celestial arrow!" yelled Crystalmon, pulling back on a string and causing an arrow to appear. Crackling with power, it reacted with the dark orb like antimatter, causing an explosion that knocked it off the top of Morishellmon's head. The Champion collapsed, Crystalmon barely maintaining her footing, as the orb rolled to a stop. After a moment, it pulsed with energy and hovered into the air, headed back for the host.

  
  


"Great!" Jessica cheered. Hikari looked at her strangely. An evil orb was floating under its own power, and this was great? "Now that it's not on Morishellmon's head, we can pull out the big guns without hurting the Digimon!" Jessica said cheerfully, "And since I still feel pretty good, let's pull out the trump card! Digi-modify!" she called, "Digivolution activate!" Crystalmon quickly jumped off of the mollusk's head, not wanting to crush it with her soon-to-be added weight.

  
  


"Digivolution," mechanically stated the D-Power. Rings once again flew out to surround Crystalmon. As Crystalmon was obscured from sight, the data surrounding her Digicore flew away, allowing her to be transformed into her next form. As the egg cleared, several of the bystanders murmured in awe at the Champion, whose scales glimmered like prisms in the afternoon sun light.

  
  


Jessica's head swam with the sudden sensation of being in another head, and Chromamon seemed to be a bit disoriented as well. Since both of them were able to feel the evil energy from two sources, that didn't help much either. After a moment to focus, the two found a way to deal with that. "Plasma ball!" the two yelled at the same time, Chromamon launching a silver-blue ball of energy. Intersecting the orb, the dark ball struggled with the light for a moment, before both faded away into a fog. Morishellmon quickly dedigivolved back to Rookie. 

  
  


"Where am I?" he asked in confusion. The frog-like Digimon looked around, before spotting his trainer, "Ack! Ben, get up! I told you not to head to the computer lab to check your e-mail between classes, and now you're asleep at practice! Talk about a quick slide to self-destruction!" The partner looked at his Digimon in confusion as it continued to yell.

  
  


"Nice work, you two!" Allen said weakly, finally back to his feet, and being partly supported by Guilmon. Jessica gave a mock bow. It felt good to wipe out something evil like that, but she was a little displeased with how much she enjoyed watching Chromamon triumph in this sort of situation. 

  
  


"Ah, it's only natural," said Chromamon out loud, reading her thoughts, "Sort of a rush at making through battle. I still now you're a wimp and coward!" she finished cheerfully.

  
  


"I wouldn't go that far," protested Jessica, but Hikari cut her off.

  
  


"Did you hear that part about the computer lab?" asked Hikari. "There could be a couple hundred others being possessed like that Tuskmon was!" Hikari pulled out a card and handed it to Allen, "Here!" she said, "This is a holy aura card. Since Chromamon can't fit inside, you can use it with your Magnaangemon card if there is something there." 

  
  


"Fair enough," Allen said. Being attacked suddenly by his team mates had been shocking. The idea of something happening to his parents scared him enough, he started to go into a run. Jessica, Hikari, and Tanemon followed. 

  
  


"I'll be in the parking lot!" Chromamon called out after a moment.

  
  


"I really hope that Morishellmon was telling the truth," said Jessica as they headed through the halls. Hikari looked at her strangely, and Jessica explained, "Something else to worry about is one more thing to the pile of all the little troubles in life. We've been handling things pretty well. The other option is that Demon might be testing them out for a run on our friends." Hikari shivered at that.

  
  


"I wish there was some way to contact the Digital World," Hikari said with longing. The others nodded their agreement.

  
  


The computer lab was empty. Most people had computers to check e-mail on in other places, so it was rarely used except for classes. What was odd was a message repeating on all the screens in place of a log in prompt. "Jessica, Allen - things are taking a turn for the worse here! Please send cards-Angie." The group, stunned, stared blankly at the screens for a moment. 

  
  


"Well," said Guilmon after a moment, "That's different."

  
  


To be continued...

  
  


Author's notes: Allen seems to have figured out that ice-bolt thing he used last time. Or at least he managed to reproduce it under similar straining circumstances. Apparently, all that training is working well, as that's the most card-slashes I've ever had her do. (though none of them were charged). 

  
  


Oh, and yeah. Digivolution got cut off, Gennai got killed, there's another enemy, and a message found its way to the Real World where they were able to spot it. Of course, it may not be a REAL message. 

  
  


As the last chapter closed off the last arc, this chapter opens the new arc. There's more darkness ahead. I more or less have everything plotted in my head, and getting to the Digital World will be nothing compared to the dangers that lie there as the war begins.

  
  


The wise will note that the possession by the dark orb happened BEFORE digivolution was cut off. The Holy Beasts time estimate is correct, but if someone was actively trying beforehand...

  
  


We'll see what's happening to the Digital-side Tamers next time. This piece concentrated on our primary movers and shakers right now: the Holy Beasts, and Our Heroes. 

  
  


Next time:

  
  


Jessica tries to verify the message, as the Demon Corps + Tamers have to start to vie actively for the Digicores and minds of the Digital World. Meanwhile, we'll get a better glance at the four younger children (Miracles, Fate, Hope, and Light). 

  
  


Due: Whenever I get it done, but I probably should hurry up and get names chosen as digivolution lines finalized for the younger four kids, like I did for everyone else. ^_^

  
  


Before leaving, don't forget to click that review button and drop me your comments! Much appreciated!


	10. Digital Search pt 2: Fate's desperate m...

Crystal Tamers

  
  


by Tremor3258

  
  


Quest for the Digital World

  
  


Fate's desperate message!

  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon! See previous disclaimers for those who do!

  
  


***************

  
  


Dark Pearl: yet another extension of the Dark Ocean's unholy powers, this is created from the energy of a Digimon with mystical powers (Piedmon, for example), and used to conduct the dark energy to an unsuspecting Digimon. Physicists have noted that the energy pattern (from what little data was ever collected) bears some resemblance to that of the D-powers (see entry). It was the seeding of these on Earth that marked the next phase in the great continuous battle between darkness and light.

  
  


World Book entry, 2074 edition (first edition offered on-line since the Tamer Crisis)

  
  


*****************

  
  


In a few hours, the real world would begin to panic as dark powers manifested themselves among the population. However, the ominous chill wind that suddenly breezed past the still-traveling convoy had a different meaning entirely. Skullsatomon paused, bone club held warily as he sniffed the air, and then shrugged as he was unable to decipher any clues from the air. The humans in the group, primarily, felt confused, feeling something taken away.

Margaret, however, suddenly started to shiver, as Piddomon next to her did the same. Demon, looked at them puzzled, for a moment, before a spot where his forehead presumably was on his robes suddenly gleamed blue. Margaret groaned as she felt something sliding over her skin and then seeming to probe within her. The humans started to back away, wondering if this was some additional test, but after a moment the probe stopped and switched to the Angel.

  
  


Demon said in a whisper, "That can't be right, he's a stable digivolution, isn't he?" It was enough to give him a headache, especially since scanning angelic Digimon was always a bit painful. Demon looked around. Every one of the humans he had selected and pressed to their breaking points, had rookies, except for Margaret. Demon scratched his left horn in puzzlement, and shook his head. He looked around, and saw their gazes filled with fear. 

  
  


He shook his head frantically, "Please," he begged, "Believe me: I have nothing to do with this. Please, I need to know: did anyone of you feel anything happen just now?" Most of the Digidestined suddenly looked ill, and Demon started to brighten, before realizing how they might react to that.

  
  


Angie touched on the master demon's arm. Her face was pale, but she still managed to stay upright. Demon's shadowed eyes narrowed. Her eyes were glowing faintly as she spoke, "Please, do not force them to look back right now. A great rift has just been forced between the souls of human and Digimon, and far too close to here." 

  
  


Demon's eyes widened again, and he whispered, "Not the human power to-" Angie held her hand up to where the mouth should be on his robes to shush him. 

  
  


"Yes," she said simply. "The effects are starting now, and I, no, we fear they will be great." Angie looked downcast, "This makes the situation worse. These bodies are not yet accustomed of what they must do. We must be in partnership, not control." 

  
  


Demon shook his head, "That is not for me to know. I fear that which has guided my actions in the past."

  
  


Eiko Daijoji, bearer of Sincerity walked over, with a Palmon besides her. Unlike Angie, her eyes had no glow, and when she broke into the conversation, it was a normal voice, "Yes... power and dark power is scary and hard to tell apart. I could only hear Sincerity clearly once, but there's some very bad stuff still happening. If we can bring Love fully into the Digital World, then it'll buy us some time." 

  
  


Angie shook her head, eyes shining brighter, "I know of what you speak, that which dogs the steps of the two worlds. But I tell you this anyway for Angie's sake. We have little control, but power. That should warn them sufficiently to bring the others in." 

  
  


Margaret shrieked again, and Angie looked downcast. "You see, it is so easy to forget the actions of an individual, which is all the Digital World has depended upon in the past." Angie staggered, and eyes fading, she said urgently, "They will come, but remember, your decisions shape all our futures." Angie suddenly jerked, as if cut loose from strings, and was left rubbing her head weakly. 

  
  


Demon, didn't pay any attention, having already flown over again by the angel. With his mystical senses.. it was plain to see her life energy was being drained to something. Demon shuddered, but pulled himself together. He wanted the opportunity for the Digital World to grow on its own, and he'd just gotten a divine go-ahead on the subject. But this was no time for irony.

  
  


"You had better be right, Serenity," he prayed under his breath, "Or it's the end of all the spirits." Louder, he spoke forcefully to the shaking Margaret. "I'm sorry, child, but I see one choice in the time and conditions. The others are not yet in condition to care. Listen carefully, for I need your blessing for this to continue." Margaret listened, eyes growing wider as Demon outlined the plan, but sobbing slightly, she closed her eyes, accepting.

  
  


Demon motioned, bringing Lady Devimon closer, "I am going to break the seal," he explained. Lady Devimon nodded, a bit confused about bringing her over. Demon shook his cloaked head, "No, there is no time for subtleties. I must remove all the darkness I have cast, and the only ones with knowledge about the powers I have left to slumber are not yet in this world."

  
  


Lady Devimon's eyes widened. If Demon pushed things with the Children's psyches too far while removing his influence, they could call down sufficient power to crack the Digital World in two. "I trust your powers in this regard, my lord," she stated, eyes lowered, "But surely there are better soldiers to find them. I was their enemy!"

  
  


Demon nodded, "Yes," he confirmed, "But you have access to the sealed gate I placed in that area, and have knowledge about them that no one else who is trustworthy possesses. Even with the Gods moving so quickly, your connection should see the way through to getting information to them. They can contain this energy somehow, and we need that information."

  
  


Angie, still rubbing her head nearby, whispered, speaking for herself, "Put my name on it." The two powerful demons looked at her, and she insisted, "It may help them come here sooner. If things are getting so bad here... Jessica won't leave without some face on it." 

  
  


Lady Devimon hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "All right. I will see about seeking her," her voice catching for a moment, "attention out specifically, and work on creating a path through the Net. I fly, my lord." Demon bowed, granting her leave, and her wings unfurled as she took to the air through the dark sky.

Demon watched her go for a moment and allowed himself a single deep breath, before returning to command. Quickly, he shouted out orders to his followers. "We're going to need whatever medicinal herbs you can find as soon as possible, as well as some sort of defensible area." Demon's voice became more grim as he explained, "I'm not sure what damage this maneuver will inflict on someone tied to the Digital World." The various Demon Corps scurried off, aided by some of the Children as they tromped through the woods.

  
  


The might viral Mega, however, simply knelt down, putting one hand on Piddomon and the other on Margaret's head. After a moment of internal preparation, he shouted, "Evil Inferno!" Dark flame sprouted from both his hands, but the two under the attack did not burn, physically at least. After several moments, Piddomon screamed as grey energy began to flow out of his body, before being consumed by the hungry flames. Several agonizing moments went by before Piddomon started to shrink, glowing golden as he reverted to Patamon.

  
  


A ways away, a mighty hunter could feel the diseased power begin to spill from the Angel Digimon. Baihumon bared his teeth in a toothy grin. "So, you pass the second hurdle sufficiently. You will yet prove to be the worthy challenge I feel we need." Done overseeing for the time being, the Holy Beast went to report to his brothers on what they wanted to know about progress, and then, a little messaging work.

  
  
  
  


****************

  
  


The Real World, several hours later, was also reacting to a series of ill events. "Reports continue in from around the globe. The powerful Digimon who have pledged their loyalty to humanity have suddenly lost their greatest power, that of digivolution. Reports also indicate berserk Digimon appearing in large numbers for the first time in decades, but still equipped with the digivolution power," came the voice of a frantic-sounding newsreporter over the radio in Allen's apartment.

  
  


Allen shook his head sadly at the reports, but Guilmon looked offended at the term, "'Pledged loyalty?' What are we, conquered nations?" 

  
  


Allen pat the Digimon's head, "It's more difficult for humanity to give what you do freely. Even the Digidestined are having trouble reaching higher levels in today's world, right?" he explained, before going back to searching his room for additional cards. The children still stuck in the Digital World had sent an e-mail begging for them, and Allen and Guilmon had shot out of the room, past the girls' hesitation on the matter.

  
  


"You really miss her, don't you?" Guilmon asked. 

  
  


Allen paused in his search, sighing deeply. "You never know how much someone means until they're gone, Guilmon," he said softly, "But if we're having this much trouble here, than the Digital World's probably in worse shape! If Margaret's there, I'll do whatever I can to help her." 

Back at school, another conference was taking place. A massive white dragon, western-style, lay curled into a mound of sparkling scales against the reddening sun. The school area was more or less quiet, but it was a quiet tension. The streets were quiet, people unsure of what would happen next.

  
  


"What should we do, Chromamon?" Hikari asked, lying down on the dragon's warm back. Tanemon was sleeping on her chest, exhausted by the long day. Jessica, however, was as far up as Chromamon's side-spines would permit, and she was searching the area for more of the black orbs with her D-power raised high.

  
  


"I don't know, Hikari," Chromamon rumbled softly, as not to disturb her partner, "It's gotten so confusing lately. All this power flowing in, and it's related to evolutions, and my friends, and Jessica, and we can't even truly help... all we can do is stay here and deal with shadows." Chormamon huffed, neck sagging slightly. "I wish I'd stayed small forever, when the big problem was a few punk kids, then maybe this wouldn't have happened."

  
  


"Don't you dare say that, ever!" commanded Jessica angrily, smacking Chromamon's scales with a resounding slap. "Whatever this power is, it's not some form of darkness! I know," Jessica said, a bit sullenly and voice dropping lower as she sat down besides Hikari on Chromamon's back, petting Tanemon. "I can feel it," she repeated childishly, and rubbed her neck.

  
  


Hikari patted Jessica's hand tenderly. "I believe in you Jessica," she said resolutely after Jessica looked at her, startled. "It's... life, or something, whatever you have, and whatever you gave me, and I envy you for it. You're brighter because of it, and this area is better. Whatever happened seems to be rare around here, for once," Hikari said, darkening for a moment. "Allen's shown that people can have powers to, and you show that power isn't an end." Hikari held up her D-power for a moment and sighed. "I just hope I can be an example some day too."

  
  


Jessica's mouth hung open in astonishment, Chromamon, head arched around, mirroring her expression. It took a few moments for Jessica to find her voice, "You really think I've managed to be all that?" Jessica asked tentatively. 

  
  


Chromamon nodded at Jessica, "Naturally. I'm so happy you're my partner." The champion giggled, "I'm just surprised by Hikari. I didn't know she was this well spoken."

  
  


The young girl blushed and stammered, "I was inspired." 

  
  


Jessica's eyes smiled and took Hikari's hands for a moment, "Thank you, that means a lot to me." Her eyes narrowed and the Tamer spun around to riding position on Chromamon again, "And you reminded me that we don't have to always be reactive. Chromamon! To the game shop! If that message was true, then we're going to need more cards!" 

  
  


**************

  
  


"Allen..."

  
  


Allen unable to sleep, shot straight upright as he heard his name whispered sibilantly. A quick look around his room, lit by a sudden (if now expected) crackle of icy energy from his D-power on his dresser, had the only thing out of place being Guilmon sleeping on the foot of his bed, rather than the floor. Allen blinked a few times and lay back down, rubbing his eyes. "I need more sleep. I'm turning into Jessica and hearing voices!" Allen chuckled nervously to himself.

  
  


"If you were Jessica, then you'd have remembered me," came the voice again, but with less hissing. Allen could now tell the voice was female. The shadows cast by the D-powers light began to flow together into a humanoid shape, and Allen's eyes widened in recognition. "Ah, THERE you go," she said encouragingly, "I seriously wonder what Margaret sees in you." A slight pause, and then, spitefully, "I mean, besides being the obvious catspaw." 

  
  


"Lady Devimon," Allen said, cold as death itself, "Get out."

  
  


Lady Devimon stepped out of the shadows, profile fully visible, hands raised in a gesture of surrender. "Come now, Allen. You must have figured out we're working towards similar ends here. There are forces working to control-"

  
  


"And you're one of them!" he said, stress making his voice scratchy, "Or you think I'll ever forget what you did?"

  
  


Lady Devimon shook her head, then smiled ferally, "Of course not. It was a test, boy, in the way of the Digital World. And now... I'm going to offer you what Jessica would never see, or even think to look for." 

  
  


"Ten minutes of relaxation?" the host of Friendship asked skeptically.

  
  


Lady Devimon hissed at that, "Do not seek to play games with me, Allen! I could still yet crush you... except the next bearer of your Crest may not be as strong." She paused for a moment, looking abashed at something, then continued, "No. Jessica has many strengths, but in this case, one is a weakness. She is more than content to stay and try to guard your world, for ever, and let others continuing to seek your friends. You, however, can see that the chaos is continuing to rise. The two worlds do not have much time left, with the Tamers yet uncomplete. Do not look surprised, I have been watching you. Your sleep is disturbed, and you know where you must go now from your dreams, if not yet your mind."

  
  


"The Digital World?" Allen asked, anger forgotten, replaced by sadness, "It's impossible. The gates are sealed.. the only thing coming out are more problems, and Jessica and my D-powers can't open gates."

  
  


Lady Devimon smiled again, "Too focused on what is in front of your eyes. You have passed every test, your strength is at a peak for what can be achieved in this world at the moment... but you forget one gate exists NOT of the Guardians, you even said you would never forget it!" She chuckled at Allen's look of shock, "I made that gate, and can feel it... your powers have an impact on it... you think now, if you focused on that dark gate, your powers could not tear it open as easily as they did the skies with Kamiya?" 

  
  


Lady Devimon bowed and then began to slide out of view, back to the darkness, "I have said my peace... though I must warn you, the gate works because it uses a common connection between both worlds. Find it, and your powers can yet stop the destruction of all. Unless, of course, you wish to continue your card games." A harsh, derisive chuckle echoed around the room, as it came to a stop, so did the presence of the powerful dark Ultimate, quiet but for the sounds of Guilmon's continued breathing. 

  
  


Allen sat up and turned on the light, hugging his knees, as his eyes saw scenes far removed from his room. He did not return to sleep that night.

  
  


**********

  
  


The next morning... the city was quiet, but for the sound of sirens in the distance. More dark orbs had appeared in the night, and emergency crews were desperately trying to rein in the berserkers. A battle as futile was raging in the school computer room.

  
  


"Digi-port open!" Jessica said for the tenth time, holding out the D-power, but the computer remained silent. "Open! Please?" she tried finally, before throwing her hands in the air in disgust and slumping down next to the reverted Crystalmon, who was watching with amused interest on top of a small pile of luggage... mainly card cases, and a backpack. 

  
  


In the chair next to where Jessica spun sullenly, Hikari and Tanemon rested. Hikari consoled, "Relax, Jessica... even swiping the digi-port card didn't do anything, and it's not like anyone else can get a digi-port to work right now."

  
  


"I know... but if messages are coming out, I was hoping people could get in," she complained, "I just want to find the people, get them back, and go back to worrying about not getting shaken down for lunch money. I'll bet you... I don't know, one of those super-deluxe Wargreymon plushies that the e-mail is just a product of our hopeful imaginations. The gates just aren't opening."

  
  


A sudden thunder crack interrupted the conversation, crashing the conversation to a halt as the windows rattled in their frames. Crystalmon and Tanemon, protecting their Tamers, and with better hearing, rushed to the wall nearest the blast and peered out a window. "What is it?" asked Hikari, frightened "Another dark digivolution?"

  
  


The two shared a glance, but did not speak for a minute, despite continued prompting. Finally, Crystalmon spoke, not turning to meet her partner's gaze. "Sorry Jessica," Crystalmon said, "But I think you just made a bad bet, for once." The humans rushed to join the Digimon. Out in the playground, where it had begun, a lifetime or two months before, stood Allen with Growlmon. The Tamer was eerily lit from raw energy pouring out of his D-power, impacting against a dark aura in the air, as well as a ghostly presence that flickered and faded around him. It seemed to have been going on for some time, for the lights of another place were visible from their perspective against the ground. 

  
  


Jessica glanced at her D-power, and the blood drained from her face. The Tamer scooped up her Rookie, who clambered onto her head without a word as she struggled with a backpack and a few cases. Hikari rushed to join her mentor, picking up the rest of the luggage. "What's going on?" she asked, "How is that possible?"

  
  


"I don't know," said Jessica thinly, alarm and (to be honest) irritation in her voice, "But I don't know how he decided to do it, but if he keeps using the D-power like that, the drain could kill him!"

  
  


************

  
  


Three minutes later, the four were on the playground, behind Allen's back. The portal was now half the size needed for Growlmon, and displayed a strange world of linear structures, simplistic, without much detail, and no visible support. Allen called to them, an odd doubling in his voice, "See, Kindness... I did it. And it wasn't that hard, either. All I had to do was... reach." Allen's shoulders trembled at the last word, but the hand holding the D-power was rock-steady.

  
  


"Great!" said Jessica, sounding more frightened than enthusiastic, "Just hang on for a second and let me help you. It's really no fun burning yourself out like that, trust me." Jessica clambered a bit for her D-power, but Allen's next words forestalled her.

  
  


"You wouldn't want to help this way... you're not built for it." Jessica blinked, confused but ready to make the transition over to anger. Allen continued, not noticing, "It isn't me that's the worry... it's all my friends there. I have to protect them."

  
  


Hikari spoke up timorously, "Allen, we're your friends too. A team, remember?"

  
  


Allen nodded slightly, "Yes, that's why I waited for Kindness to come as well. The Digital World needs our strength to stop the darkness." The portal, meanwhile, continued to expand, growing faster as it became larger. "This gate will soon be spotted. We need to go."

  
  


"I'll help with the luggage?" Growlmon offered weakly, shrugging at the confused glance he got from the assorted girls. His Tamer's behavior was troublesome... but he could feel through their link Allen clearly thought this right.

  
  


Jessica sighed, rubbing her eyes for a few seconds, before straightening to stare at Hikari with a faint smile. "I'm sorry, Hikari, but I think this field trip is one you can't go on yet. I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to have to wait to finish your training."

  
  


Tanemon puffed up, "Don't worry, Jessica. I'll digivolve for sure any time now, and then Hikari and I will keep this place safe! You just hurry up and do... whatever it is Allen wants and not have to worry about us!" 

  
  


Hikari smiled, and nodded agreement. "I'm sure you'll be fine... you guys have beaten up all the darkness here so far, so I'm sure you and the other kids can finish it up in no time... Just be sure to hurry back before that Wargreymon goes off sale! I'd feel bad taking all your money." 

Jessica smiled, weakly, which her insides twitched. Things were moving faster and faster... and if it wasn't for the reassuring reality of Crystalmon's weight on her head and shoulders, she'd be certain she was dreaming. "All right, Allen," she said, "You seem to know where we're going, I guess." Allen nodded confidently. "I just wish that made me feel better," she mumbled, and then shook her head. The old feeling of helplessness seemed back in this place. She chuckled, and explained at Crystalmon's worried glance, "I guess I am just a control freak... Not in charge, and now I'm panicking." 

  
  


Crystalmon patted her on the shoulder with a foot, "Relax, Jessica. I'm sure Allen's just rushing because he found a sudden opening... we'll go in, and do the good we've always done. Now cheer up, kiddo! I don't want to have to worry about the Digital World AND you." Jessica smiled, wanly, but started moving forward as Growlmon got the luggage.

  
  


"It's time," Allen said, cutting across the empty playground. Indeed, the portal was easily large enough to pass the large dinosaur. Jessica squared her shoulders and marched forward. Next to Allen, she dropped one card case to wave at Hikari, but Allen stopped her with a phrase, "Hurry.. I can't maintain this very long." Sighing, Jessica stomped forward, Crystalmon waving in lieu of her Tamer... as the four passed through the portal with a faint shimmering of light... which then snapped to a close with a deafening crash, knocking Hikari to the ground.

  
  


"What now?" Tanemon asked after the ringing in her ears stopped.

  
  


Hikari stood up, brushing the gravel off her rear, and said, with only a faint quaver, "Do what we would normally do when we're in a bit over our heads... Be brave, don't run... and call for help! Let's hope Mr. Kamiya's willing to do us some favors," Hikari said, walking towards her home and a phone, with only a single mournful glance behind her.

  
  


**************

  
  


"Where are we, Allen?" Growlmon asked, as the four floated in mid-air on the other side of the portal. Wherever they were, it was unlike any space any had seen before. They hovered in some space with no horizon, surrounded by white, broken up regularly by a black gridwork. All around them floated bright squares, whose interior were scenes as mundane as a traffic light, and as fantastic as entire galaxies.

  
  


"The Internet," answered a harsh feminine voice. The four spun around, despite no surfaces, and Allen growled when he saw the speaker. Lady Devimon floated in mid-air, apparently just behind where the portal had been. She gave a short bow, "This is where the world's connect... and the only pathway still open across the barrier. You've shown great personal strength to make it so far alone, and I give you congratulations." 

  
  


The demonic Digimon bowed, but when she straightened, one arm had a heavy blade attached. She continued, saddened, "But it is with a heavy heart that I tell you that a strong heart is no longer enough... but strength of arms as well." She glared at Jessica, until Crystalmon leapt in front, growling. There was a slight, sad smile on her face as she continued, "My lord requires the true keepers of the Crest Spirits, and it has long been my task to obtain them." She snapped her fingers, opening a square... beyond which was a blighted forest landscape. "Make it past me... and the way to the Digital World is clear, and my chosen duty is at an end. Fail... and pray that the world lives long enough to find the ones it needs."

  
  


***********

  
  


To be continued....

  
  
  
  


Author's Notes: I'm sorry... it's been about a year and a half since I posted, and I deeply apologize for that... A great sticking point was to get the Digital World scene at the beginning of the chapter just right... it was critical for the future development of the story, but it took me a ways to get it until I felt it right for the characters... and to introduce more of the other Crest-bearers. Hammering the rest of it into place was easy, but finally deciding on a chunk of time to do it in took FAR too long. As I said, I'm sorry.

  
  


Still, it's up... and the search for the Digital World is almost complete, as the story moves into another 'arc' of episodes... with more of why things are the way they are is revealed, with some character origins, the source of the Crest spirits, as well as the unveiling of more of the grand design and those unfinished prophecies. to be completed.... soon? I hope, if school doesn't get away from me again.


End file.
